August 2016 Magazine - Volume 61 No. 4

VOLUME 61 NUMBER 4 | AUGUST 2016 T HE S P EC T R U M V O L 61 N O. 4

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FOUNDED 1956 | A.Y. 2015-2016 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSOCIATE EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS DIRECTOR NEWSPAPER EDITOR MAGAZINE EDITOR ASSISTANT MAGAZINE EDITOR ONLINE EDITOR ASSISTANT ONLINE EDITOR LITERARY EDITOR PHOTOS AND VIDEOS EDITOR ASSISTANT PHOTOS AND VIDEOS EDITOR LAYOUT AND GRAPHICS EDITOR NEWSPAPER WRITERS

MAGAZINE WRITERS

Lyle John L. Balana Hezron G. Pios Charlene Marie D. Lim Maria Angeline M. Mayor Ida Sarena M. Gabaya Danielle Emmie L. Villaera

FILIPINO WRITER

Ma. Lore P. Prado

ILLUSTRATORS

PHOTOJOURNALISTS

VIDEOGRAPHERS

Gian Von J. Caberte Stephine Paul M. Dungca Katrina Y. Nemenzo Karen D. Panganiban Seth V. Pullona Sophia Inez A. Bilbao Cedric Lance M. Militar Ma. Henna A. Pilla Nichol Francis T. Anduyan Ariana L. Chua Neil Angelo F. Pelongco Kyle Jyrax D. Sevilla

LAYOUT AND GRAPHIC ARTISTS

Glen Jed J. Descutido Shara Mae L. Pelayo

WEB ADMINISTRATOR

Keanu Kent B. Gargar

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Keanu Joseph P. Rafil

PUBLICATION MODERATOR

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Maria Angelica M. Ape Starlene Joy B. Portillo Ian Kristoffer V. Ga Iris Denise N. Rivera

ONLINE WRITERS

SPORTS WRITERS

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RJ Nichole L. Ledesma Daphne Tanya L. Molenaar Robert H. Jerge III Andrea Nicole C. Farol Christiana Claudia G. Gancayco Lex Diwa P. Aloro Katherine E. Co David Willem L. Molenaar Joshua Martin P. Guanco Chad Martin Z. Natividad Jhon Aldrin M. Casinas Margaret E. Yusay Jowan Dave G. Guides

Jean Lee C. Patindol

ALLIANCE OF LASALLIAN CAMPUS JOURNALISTS AND ADVISERS COLLEGE EDITORS GUILD OF THE PHILIPPINES

The Spectrum is the Official Student Media Corps of the University of St. La Salle.

Its editorial office is located at the Student Activity Center G/F, University of St. La Salle, Lasalle Avenue, Bacolod City, Negros Occidental 6100.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of The Spectrum may be reproduced in any form without the written consent of the Media Corps. All contributions become The Spectrum property and the Editor-in-Chief reserves the right to edit all articles for publication.

CONTACT NUMBER (034) 432-1187 local 172 E-MAIL thespectrum.usls@gmail.com FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/TheSpectrumUSLS TWITTER @TheSpectrumUSLS ISSUU www.issuu.com/thespectrumusls

VOLUME 61 NUMBER 4 | AUGUST 2016

THE COVER “If you hear Allahu Akbar, the ones who talk to me about that think it has a different meaning. You should know that I say it 85 times a day because I pray five times. You never heard it from me while praying but you hear it over the news in a specific context, the political agenda and so many [other] aspects into it.

So it gives you an atmosphere. It creates a crack or a gap between Muslims and Christians. This is my perspective.� ~Hagir Mohamed

SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK

Letters to the Editor must include your full name, year and section (for students) and college department or office (for faculty and staff).

Publication of letters are upon discretion of the Editorial Board and may be edited for purposes of clarity or space.

Send an email: thespectrum.usls@gmail.com

EDITOR’S NOTE This issue was conceptualized in instances of anger and frustration.

It is, most importantly, a practice in curbing that anger and frustration into a venue for education. To whom or what, you ask. Let me illustrate it through the words of a philosopher and activist.

“It is that no group ever sets itself as the One without at once setting up the Other over against itself.” By saying this, Simon de Beauvoir was challenging the idea that women are only seen as subsets of men. Men being the One and women the Other. Outside its context of gender disparity, her words imply a long history of supremacy and discrimination.

The concept of Otherness is what establishes arbitrary constructs of social hierarchy. The concept of Otherness creates strong divides across social groups. These divides pave way to centuries worth of deep-seated prejudice and even violence.

This issue tackles Otherness in all its forms, and it delves on it headfirst without fear. It challenges the readers’ perception of what is One and what is the Other, and even suggesting that such binary should not exist. It poses a radical alternative, instead: a culture of Oneness with the Other.

Through the stories inside, we hope you will look at the world, and its people, in a new way. A better way.

RJ NICHOLE L. LEDESMA Editor-in-Chief

BLITZ It saddens you that racism is still rampant but you laugh at jokes poking fun at a person’s complexity. It breaks your heart to hear about a girl who committed suicide but you yourself doubted her when you saw signs of her depression. It bothers you how violent attacks on religion are rising in number but you change directions when you see a man wearing a Bisht and keffiyeh along the way. We blame society for so-called discriminations towards or against a certain group, but we tend to overlook the fact that these discriminations stem from within our minds.

The Spectrum would like to extend its deepest gratitude to Sir Andre Tagamolila for signing our requests; to Ms. Jean Lee Patindol for her undying support for our advocacies; and to the brave souls who shared their stories to spread awareness about their cause. With their help, we were able to complete this magazine issue and put forth a message: Get a better perspective than the one preconceived in our minds.

PHOTO AND ART BY JOWAN DAVE G. GUIDES

CONTENTS AUGUST 2016 • VOLUME 61 NUMBER 4

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God is Dead: Of Church and Non-believers SOCIETY

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Nasaan si Darwin?

The Kidapawan Narratives SOCIETY

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Minds Matter SOCIETY

The Rainbow’s Trudge SOCIETY

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The Two-Faced Curtain DISCUSSION

Chronicles of the Faithful Youth FEATURE

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Those Shrill Tick Tocks DISCUSSION

PHOTOS BY JHON ALDRIN M. CASINAS

CONTENTS AUGUST 2016 • VOLUME 61 NUMBER 4

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Allahu Akbar God is Greater COVER STORY

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Natural Dominion ENVIRONMENT

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What We Talk About When We Talk About Sexuality SOCIETY

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Faking It DISCUSSION

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How to Talk About Your Beliefs

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Porn on Demand DISCUSSION

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MOVIE REVIEWS

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The Skirt Chaser Account DISCUSSION

SOCIETY

GOD IS DEAD: OF CHURCH AND NON-BELIEVERS

People can exist without religion. Even in a Catholic school such as La Salle, there are people who are undergoing doubt in religion and who have no religion at all. They, too, deserve respect.

BY LEX DIWA P. ALORO PHOTOGRAPHED BY JHON ALDRIN M. CASINAS

CHRISTIANITY IS SLOWLY DYING. This statement

has been thrown around mostly by journalists and has been plaguing the headlines of publications like The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast.

As studies have shown, more and more people, especially teenagers, have drifted away from religion. The nonreligious or atheists are the 4th largest population in the world right behind Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. According to the Universal Almanac, the population of nonbelievers has reached up to 850 million. There is an enormous increase of people who don’t claim any links to religion now. Society refers to them as atheists. What about the agnostics?

Most people don’t know about agnostics. People often misconstrue the meaning of atheism as agnosticism or the other way around. The mistake is often the latter because agnosticism hasn’t been as discussed in society as atheism. So what is the difference between these two forms of beliefs?

To go straight into context, atheism, as most people know, is the belief that there is no God or gods. Atheism rejects every known religion there is. The term “atheist” itself denotes “nonbeliever”. The term originated from the Greek word atheos which means “without god”.

Agnosticism is different from atheism in the sense that neither do they contradict nor confirm deities or higher beings. Agnostics claim that no one will ever know for sure whether there are supreme beings or not. They don’t believe in the

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existence of gods but neither do they believe that there are no gods at all. They simply think that knowledge of greater beings is far too complex for humans to ever comprehend, thus believing that the existence of these beings can never be proven or disproved.

The previous two paragraphs cover the surface differentiation of atheism and agnosticism but let’s plunge in deeper into these two worlds of complex philosophies.

George Aguilar, PhD, a philosophy professor in the University of Saint La Salle, discussed his ideas about the subject.

Aguilar started out by stating that atheism and agnosticism are based upon two basic philosophies of materialism.

“You have hard materialism and soft materialism,” he specified. Discussing first about hard materialism, Aguilar said that hard materialists only believe in one specific reality in which the universe is static and comes about only by chance. “There’s no need for a creator in that world view, in that purely empirical, scientific world view,” he said, “Atheism, now, would come from this philosophical school.”

Soft materialism is the kind of materialism that, as a Zen Buddhist, Aguilar adheres to.

Unlike hard materialists who are sold on the idea that only one reality exists and that there are no creators or higher beings, soft materialists believe that there may be other realities. “There may be life after death, there may be God, but one thing is for sure, this world is real.” As Aguilar explained, soft materialists follow the standpoint that there may or may not be a God. However different they may be, one thing is certain. Both agnostics and atheists are growing in population. They have even spread throughout the Philippines which is staggering for a Christian country. 4% of the country’s population belongs to the nonbelievers as the NationMaster website stated in 2014. Which makes it even more shocking to find nonbelievers in Catholic schools as USLS. “It’s a Catholic school, but it’s a school, it’s a university. And if it aspires to be a university, there should be mutual respect between the believers and the non-believers,” Aguilar said regarding the issue.

Universities, as he put it, are the marketplace of ideas. It is the place that should allow

“BECAUSE YOU CAN NEVER BE A TRUE CHRISTIAN, YOU CAN NEVER BE A TRUE BELIEVER IF YOU HAVE NEVER DOUBTED.”

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and respect the freedom of thought because it is the setting in which young people – especially intelligent ones – undergo a phase of doubt, most often times in terms of religion.

“For me this is good,” said Aguilar on teenagers who are going through that phase. “Because you can never be a true Christian, you can never be a true believer if you have never doubted.”

“I, myself, when I was in college, doubted,” Aguilar admitted. “And yet, I found God. That makes me a believer.”

Unlike Aguilar’s case, there are college students in La Salle who are undergoing that phase but strongly believe that it’s not just a phase. Second Year Computer Science student, Bryl Lim is an atheist out of all things.

To Bryl, being an atheist in this day and age is not merely a phase. Adhering to the Laws of Science and living by Physics books instead of the Bible, Bryl is certain that there are no deities of any sort.

Bryl falls under the category of a hard materialist.

“I went to a Christian school and the more I studied and learned about God, the less I believed in Him. As I became more acquainted with Science I began to question the things I had been raised to believe. After I realized that evolution actually happened I began looking at everything I believed with the same critical light,” Bryl said, recalling why he shifted from being a man of God into a non-believer.

Bryl went through the conversion which thousand others have undergone. Perhaps the most controversial Christian-turned-atheist is Tim Lambesis who used to be the founder and lead singer of the Christian band, As I Lay Dying, until he admitted to being an atheist early 2013.

There is no usual reason as to why religious people convert into atheists but a journalist named Larry Taunton said that the Internet factored heavily into these sorts of conversions. Teens are often the ones who undergo these shifts in belief. According to Taunton, this is because people become more decisive at 14-17. As to what Dr. Aguilar said about young people going through

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this phase, most people will long to find solace in religion as they age. Bryl remains doubtful of this philosophy.

“Only time will tell,” he said, “My beliefs led me to the person that I am today—independent, practical, and auspicious. For now, I want to keep it that way.”

The separation of many young people from the church of any religion is becoming more rampant. It has been published in The Telegraph that two thirds of the world teenage population don’t believe in God. “It’s not the failure of the young people, it’s the failure of religion,” Dr. Aguilar said. Young people like Bryl don’t see the need for religion anymore.

The Church, especially Catholic ones, are taking action to invite the teen populace back to the house of worship. The Church is slowly beginning to change in certain ways like acknowledging the existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender supporters. Whether this is done to attract the millennials, no one knows for sure but Dr. Aguilar thinks that it would be a step towards the right direction. He added, “Eventually, the Church would have to become more and more open. Not just with regards to LGBT issues but with other issues as well.”

With a small fraction of a smile, Dr. Aguilar imparts, “It takes 400 years for the Church to change. So, it’s beginning to change right now. You wait 300 more years.” S

SOCIETY

NASAAN SI DARWIN? THE KIDAPAWAN NARRATIVES

Farmers, afflicted by drought, blockaded the Cotabato-Davao Highway in Kidapawan City in a protest against the local government to let them take notice of their unmet needs. One of them is Darwin Sulang.

His story, like many stories, is swinging back and forth between two narratives. One makes him a martyr. Another makes him the enemy.

BY RJ NICHOLE L. LEDESMA ILLUSTRATED BY KATRINA Y. NEMENZO

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IN NORTH CABATO, the rice fields are devoid of green. The dry stalks line up displaying bleak variations of brown. The color of drought. Like a sickness, it looms over everything.

The townspeople are hungry. They lift their hands, and stick their heads out, for rain. Even the corns, or what is left of them, are eaten by rats at night. They are helpless against the sun, and when the prayers can’t sustain them, they seek respite from the government.

Their town was declared “on a state of calamity,” and as its protocol, calamity funds are supposed to be released in aid of the El Niño-stricken families. This was in January. Two months have passed and they availed of nothing. Not a grain. Not a reassuring update from the officials.

On March 29, a few hundred farmers plead outside the National Food Authority (NFA) office for what was promised to them: sacks of rice, food to fill their stomachs with. North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Mendoza talked to the farmers, listed their names on paper, and promised yet again to pass on their concerns to local government units. Two, three days have passed. Nothing but silence from the government, but the hungry farmers refused to be anything but silent. Not until the officials spoke to them.

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For another three days, over 6,000 protesters barricaded the Kidapawan National Highway demanding food aid and the release of promised calamity funds. They blocked hundreds of private and commercial vehicles, the residents’ lives disrupted and flow of commerce halted, to call forth the attention of their governor.

On April 1, their permit for protest expired. On that day, the city still resounded with cries of frustration and hunger. They refused to budge. They were still hungry.

They were still mad.

One of them is Darwin Sulang. He is the son of a family whose main claims for a living is agriculture. For a long time now, they eat

only bananas for breakfast. It wasn’t always like this for them.

Darwin and the many protesters remained foot-still, intact and spiteful.

Their message is clear, as is the sky met with scorching heat. At the back of the crowd, somebody prays for rain shower.

Police officers came to the scene clad with militaristic protection as if surging a war. Loaded guns. Helmets. Bullet-proof vests. Shields. The police were instructed “maximum tolerance” on the ground.

The Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team were also on site as instructed due to “the alleged infiltration of the New People’s Army (NPA) on the ground”. Allegedly, the

WITH WEAPONS OF INTIMIDATION, THE TWO FORCES GO HEAD-TO-HEAD IN A TENSE ENCOUNTER. THE PROTESTERS WERE STILL UNWILLING TO BUDGE FROM THEIR PROVOCATIONS. THEN A GUNSHOT OR TWO. THE FARMERS FOUGHT BACK WITH ROCKS AND WOOD. THE POLICE SURGED FURTHER, FULL-METAL GEAR. THEN MORE GUNSHOTS. farmers and other protesters were being pushed around and forced by the NPA and other insurgent groups to be complicit in their own anti-government agenda.

The SWAT team sat atop firetrucks to give them the whole scope of view of what was about to happen.

The protesters were given three minutes to clear the road. After five minutes, Philippine National Police (PNP) Col. Alex Tagum ordered to attack. Abante.

Abante. Abante.

With weapons of intimidation, the two forces go head-to-head in a tense encounter. The protesters were still unwilling to budge from their provocations. Then a gunshot or two. The farmers fought back with rocks and wood. The police surged further, full-metal gear. Then more gunshots.

“Maximum tolerance is judgmental. Walang forever,” says Kidapawan Mayor Joseph Evangelista after the fact. He says it had to be done.

More than a hundred were injured, nine of them from gunshots. At least five were dead. Many more were missing.

“I have no regrets,” Evangelista added. He says it is only his duty “to preserve the life of his constituents.”

Darwin’s father, Ebao Sulang, was also on the grounds but lost sight of his son. Nervous, he asked his comrades: Nasaan si Darwin? To which they replied: Nandiyan lang siya.

He called back home. Wala si Darwin. He called people back in Magpet. Wala si Darwin.

A day has passed and he still hasn’t shown up in their house or anywhere. Concerned, he came searching to all nearby hospitals: Midway and Madonna. Wala si Darwin.

“No one told us where the dead were brought to,” Annalyn Sulang, Darwin’s mother, said.

On the third day, Ebao sought for the media man who has videos of the violent encounter. He asked if he could take a look at videos of the dead and injured patients.

It didn’t take him long to see his son, bleeding all over, face-first on the ground.

Department of Health (DOH) personnel were taking care of the bodies, as visible on the video, and when they turned the body over, Ebao recognized the print on his son’s shirt. It really was his son he’s watching bleed to death.

Si Darwin talaga ‘yun. Patay na talaga si Darwin.

Off he went to the morgues to retrieve his son’s body. The death certificate issued by the hospital claims his fatality was from a rock, causing a serious head injury. Ebao insisted it was from a bullet splinter, but what can he do about it? And so they went home, grief now a thing they have to contend with, along with hunger.

The wake was held in their house. The coffin was held in bamboo stilts.

In one narrative, Darwin is a martyr.

In another, he has ties with the NPA, so his death can be justified as self-defense; his life deemed a pitiful but inevitable statistic.

In one narrative, farmers are the aggrieved party. In another, police and civilian bureaucracy are the victims.

In one narrative, we are in a country wherein, in the face of emergency, victims are required to follow tedious and slow bureaucratic “due process” for affirming their desperateness, for legitimizing their hunger. In another, we are in a country peppered with impatient farmers.

In this story, the claims of truth are relative. The denouement, however, is intact. The ending can never be exhumed nor interchanged for anything comforting. The dead is dead. There is no turning back. S T HE S P EC T R U M V O L 61 N O. 4

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SOCIETY

Know the current state of the province’s mental health policies and facilities and how our local institutions accommodate the mentally ill.

BY LYLE JOHN L. BALANA AND IRIS DENISE N. RIVERA ILLUSTRATED BY KATHERINE E. CO

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INSANITY, IT HAS BEEN SAID, is doing the same thing over and over again. Though routine manual labor and the laws of physics may beg to disagree, this sort of rule is largely applicable only to behavior: to the cold, calculated mannerisms that every man paints over his life to enhance his personal revenue. To refuse to adapt this to changing requirements is the line that true mental illness breaches.

Last January 23, a security guard stationed at the Capitol Park beat up an old woman who was mentally ill. The woman in question had wandered into the area and had scattered the garbage, then peed on it.

When the guard sought to repel the woman, he was beaten with a stick. He took the stick and drove her down the ramp, and this event was caught on video. The guard was relieved of his post when the video went viral.

But what is more concerning here is that this sort of event has to happen. Why are the mentally ill wandering free around the streets, without supervision, and with increasing regularity? The woman who had beaten the guard was known for such eccentric behavior, which begs the question: what exactly does the province possess in terms of mental health policies to deal with those who need help the most?

At a provincial level, there is a notable lack of rehabilitation centers especially those

geared towards the mentally ill. Those that exist definitely lack funding and development, have slow to nonexistent response teams if an on-site visit is not available, and do not actively seek to contain liabilities that exist outside their immediate reach. This sort of policy had resulted into families retaining their mentally ill members, seeking to integrate them into a pattern of imprisonment and forced restraint over any attempt to access a workable cure.

This inner culture has resulted into a number of unfortunate incidents, such as the young boy in a barrio in Victorias City who killed his mother in a fit of rage, or the 19-year-old from a small village in Kabankalan City who ate out the heart of his own grandmother. The 19-year-old would later say that he wasn’t under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or even particularly angry at the time, but that “a voice in his head” told him to kill his grandmother who raised and took care of him after being abandoned by his parents. And so he did.

The main program that seeks to remedy this is the project entitled, “Bringing Mental Health Services to the Community,” which sought to bring the expertise and experience of the PMHA or the Philippine Mental Health Association’s Bacolod Chapter in six core hospitals around the province: Vicente Gustilo District Hospital in Escalante City; Cadiz District Hospital; Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City; Valladolid District Hospital; Gov. Valeriano Gatuslao Memorial Hospital in Himamaylan City and the Lorenzo Zayco District Hospital in Kabankalan City. These core hospitals will receive at least one psychiatrist and one psychologist to conduct consultation treatment, then follow-up treatments at least once a month, if necessary, while the Provincial Government will provide for the honorarium of the personnel for the purchase of psychotropic medications.

The PMHA is a private, non-stock, non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of mental health and prevention of mental disorders with different chapters all over the country. As an educational institution, the University of St. La Salle thought it best to work in partnership with its Bacolod branch for the university-wide campaign for mental health awareness.

The Spectrum sat down with Ms. Cinderella Francisco, RGC, RPm, the director of the Guidance and Evaluation Center (GEC) office, as she discussed the said partnership.

“It gives us the opportunity to work closely with professionals, and should there be needs coming from us, such as resource speakers regarding mental health, we can collaborate with them,” Francisco said.

At the same time, the organization extends services regarding psychosocial interventions. This means that should a student require psychiatric assistance, he or she may be referred to PMHA as they have volunteer professional psychiatrists working through them. Since psychiatric assistance can be quite costly, at least through the PMHA, students with financial limitations can avail of the service and it is considered as part of the organization’s outreach.

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MAYBE SOMETHING LOUDER, MORE DRASTIC, AND MORE SHOCKING NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN ORDER FOR THE STIGMA AGAINST MENTAL ILLNESS TO BE ERADICATED, AND FOR ADVOCACY FOR THE PROMOTION OF MENTAL HEALTH BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Francisco continued that at an institutional level, La Salle considers this a serious matter, as illustrated by the drafting of the emergency protocol a few years back. This is so the university could be aware of the units or offices that should be involved in the process of attending to a student should a psychiatric emergency happen.

In a separate interview, Mrs. Marijoy Gaduyon, also of the GEC office, listed a few programs advocating the promotion of mental health situated within the campus.

“In La Salle, there were talks given to peer counselors, and for Mental Health Week, there was a poster campaign that had information and images that was aimed to educate those who would take time to read them, then placed around the school as our participation and contribution for the week’s intent.”

A number of the university’s Psychology department faculty were involved in a psychosocial support training program, so should a certain disaster strike and challenge the mental health of the community then they would be able to extend services.

Lectures and seminar-workshops regarding mental health issues are extended to the student body. In addition to this, they are required to take Group Guidance classes where most of the awareness raising happens. They have activities that can allow the students to express their emotions and resolve them through open forums, recitations, skits, and the like.

“In these classes,” Gaduyon says, “the students are informed of various important topics that may help them deal with their personalities and their emotions, especially emotions, as they are crucial elements of mental health and may lead to issues if left unchecked, like depression and emotional buildup.”

The GEC itself actually organizes suicide prevention activities annually around the 10th of September which is the World Suicide Prevention Day. The activities include lectures wherein the definition and prevention of suicide are discussed. Candle-lighting activities to garner student involvement are also held.

Besides these programs, the GEC Office itself also holds a role on the promotion of the school’s mental health. According to Gaduyon, it handles mostly normal condition cases, which means that they don’t have extreme mental health issues. But in the rare instances that such a case arises, a valid assessment is needed before the decision to take the next step.

“We usually give a psychiatric examination that will categorize their condition, then when the results come, we make an analysis,” Gaduyon explains. “We also take into consideration indicators of extreme mental imbalance, like mood swings and abrupt changes in habits and interests that happen over a worryingly short span of time. If we see that there is 16

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a problem, it is time to refer them to a psychologist for treatment and medication so that recovery can begin.

We can keep track of their cases, but only to those who had been referred to the Guidance Office.”

As for the system of identifying those that need treatment, they must first be willing to seek help so that services can be provided. With this in mind, they must also have symptoms that are of concern, like withdrawal, increased sensitivity, illogical thinking or thinking too much of problems, erratic behavior, nervousness, and apathy. Then concerned students, friends, or teachers can make a call or a referral so that the student can go to the office for an interview. This is very important because detection in class is very difficult, as most concerning behavior is repressed or disguised in these areas. Only those close to the students can make the crucial judgment call.

Dissemination of information, requisite seminars, management of the insane already wandering the streets and written out as taong grasas— this is the prevailing policy in Negros Occidental. But what else has to happen in order to call attention to the situation? What can be done in order to accelerate the development of this branch of concern?

“Our ideas of mental illnesses or psychiatric disorders may have been stereotyped by our traditional perspectives,” Francisco expressed. “But since we are in a position to educate people, we need to inform them about these illnesses—how they develop, and how they can be attended to.”

And maybe that’s enough, or maybe it isn’t. Maybe something louder, more drastic, and more shocking needs to happen in order for the stigma against mental illness to be eradicated, and for advocacy for the promotion of mental health be taken seriously.

But as for now, time flies, and within them are minds that do not understand. S

SOCIETY

THE RAINBOW’S TRUDGE

Rainbow flags are parading down the streets but what exactly is the current status of the LGBTQ+ community in both the Philippine and Lasallian society?

BY HEZRON G. PIOS AND JOSHUA MARTIN P. GUANCO PHOTOGRAPHED BY JHON ALDRIN M. CASINAS

HAND-IN-HAND, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community of the province walked with impeccable pride starting from Bacolod City’s Capitol Lagoon up to the Bacolod Arts and Youth Sports (BAYS) Center on their 3rd Pride celebration. Countless pride walks have also been commemorated throughout the Philippines, but as the movement propagates in our country, mixed feedbacks have been received by the LGBTQ+ and its advocates alike. Is the country finally ready to open up their arms and embrace them?

In an article published by Outrage Magazine – Philippines, Carlos Montecarlo, Chairperson for Social Responsibility of the Federation of Negros LGBT, said that pride events continue to be relevant because they promote awareness.

They educate people and let them understand that LGBTQs have an essential role in society.

Furthermore, he explains that pride events empower other LGBTQs by helping them cope with discrimination and stigma, and despite

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“YOU COULD SEE TWO GIRLS HOLDING THEIR HANDS ON CAMPUS AND YOU’D SOMEHOW BE OKAY WITH IT, WHEREAS WHEN YOU SEE TWO GUYS DOING THE ACT, I BET YOU’LL CALL THEM DISGUSTING.”

the fact that many Negrense LGBTQs are starting to realize their worth, there is still a lot of space for progress. He even admitted that hosting a pride empowerment event itself is very challenging in the context of strong traditions and cultures.

Take Orange* and Violet* for example— both were in the Psychology program of the University of St. La Salle, both are mutually and romantically in love with each other, and both are women. The couple expressed their concerns regarding what Lasallian LGBTQs face inside the campus, specifically gay couples. “You could see two girls holding their hands on campus and you’d somehow be okay with it, whereas when you see two guys doing the act, I bet you’ll call them disgusting,” Orange said.

“Homosexuality is a sin.” Those were the words of Mr. Rosenri Entila, a Religious Studies teacher in the university, when asked about his opinion on the subject. He further expounded that the Church does not accept same-sex unions, claiming it execrates homosexuality and other acts of unfaithfulness, and that Jesus Christ did not preach about establishing intimate 18

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relationships with the same sex. He further added that everyone must not uphold homosexuality and declare it as a norm.

And just like drug addiction, homosexuality should be considered as a sin, nothing less, and nothing more. He believes that although homosexuality is very rampant, it doesn’t mean that we should ride on the bandwagon, stating that certain things that seem acceptable to the human eyes are not acceptable to the Lord.

Pope Francis had aired out his opinion on homosexuality on various accounts. One, he stated in the Vatican’s Synod on the Family in 2014 that LGBTQs have “qualities and gifts” to offer to the Christian community. Two, when asked in an interview with America Magazine if he approved homosexuality, he said that God doesn’t condemn LGBTQs, contrasting the stand of his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who suggested that gay marriage is a threat to world peace.

Recent research of the Williams Institute last October 2015 said that the legalization of same sex marriage in places all over the western hemisphere (such as Argentina, Brazil, France, Iceland and South Africa, to

name a few) led to the matrimony of 486,000 couples. In line with this, movements supporting LGBTQ+ rights have also been happening in countries where same sex marriage is yet to be approved, especially here in the Philippines where numerous rallies and solidarity walks in support for them are perpetually held by pro-LGBTQ+ groups. Even the WorldPride event that promotes LGBTQ+ rights through parades and festivals has also been held in religious states such as Rome, Jerusalem and Madrid.

“USLS is considered a safe haven for its student LGBTQs,” says the former Guidance and Evaluation Center (GEC) Director and current College of Arts and Sciences Dean, Rowena V. Bañes, PhD, when asked about her opinion on the subject matter. She, together with her colleagues, conducted a research in 2014 about the current state of Lasallian LGBTQs. Their study delved into the lives of 66 self-professed LGBTQs in the university. In the research, the participants see themselves as “being accepted and respected” inside the campus as they are given the opportunity to excel in the fields of academics, sports, and performing arts.

However, a small percentage (24%) of them face gender-based violence in the form of verbal and emotional abuse and discrimination.

*NOT THEIR REAL NAMES

Bañes emphasized that despite having cases of discrimination, La Salle continues to be a no-hate zone for these students wherein they enjoy the company of considerate friends and teachers. “Some even consider the chapel and Santuario as a place to connect with God, [to where they] escape from the misery brought upon by the discrimination they receive,” she said. Their research states 70% of the respondents expressed their need for an LGBTQ-based club inside the campus, and for the school to conduct seminars in relation to LGBTQs. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), how parents respond to their LGBTQ+ adolescents can have a tremendous impact on their current and future mental and physical health.

Supportive reactions can help these youth cope with challenges of being a member of the LGBTQ+ population. However, parents may react negatively and disallow their teens to remain in their homes just because of their sexual orientation. And while some oust their children from their houses, other LGBTQ+ youth take it upon themselves to just run away and escape from an environment that is very unwelcoming and discouraging.

This just shows how LGBTQ+ youths are at greater risk of homelessness than their heterosexual peers. In severe cases, this

negative environment can also afflict them with depression, isolation, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights published a report in May 2015 entitled ‘Discrimination and Violence against Individuals based on their Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI)’, which underscored the setbacks and advancements affecting the LGBTQ+ population. A mandate was made that states are obliged to protect their citizens (heterosexuals and homosexuals alike) from violence and ensure their right to equality under the law.

Many countries have launched gendersensitivity and anti-bullying programs.

LGBTQ+ rights have also been raised in pop culture through the prevalence of homosexual characters and advocates alike.

However, despite this progress, hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more injured in brutal, violent attacks such as the recent Orlando nightclub shooting that took 49 lives and injured 53 others, which was deemed as the deadliest incident of violence against the LGBTQ+ people. Countless have

been denied access to healthcare, housing, employment and other basic human rights based on their sexual orientation and identity.

Here in the Philippines, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) documented 131 cases of abuse against LGBTQs last 2013, not counting the case of Jennifer Laude, a Filipino transwoman who was killed in Olongapo City last October 2014.

Orange and Violet ended the interview with a message to all Lasallians: “We know that we can’t push them to open their minds and break the stereotype on us homosexuals, but that’s what we really want [for this Lasallian community]. Whether you are an LGBTQ+ or not, all of us should not be judgmental as we are all here on Earth to find our own source of personal happiness.”

The LGBTQ+ community will not stop marching with their rainbow flags. They won’t allow negative opinions from other people to subdue their movement and advocacy. They will continue to walk with pride and zeal, and there will be no room for retreating. They will trudge, even if doing so means battling the harshest conditions and the heaviest storms life will hurl at them. S T HE S P EC T R U M V O L 61 N O. 4

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DISCUSSION

THE TWO-FACED CURTAIN Muslims are called terrorists because of an extremist attack that happened years ago, but Americans aren’t called terrorists when they’ve killed millions of civilians in the invasion of other countries. How is this kind of idealism shaping up the media’s representation of minorities in society?

BY CHAD MARTIN Z. NATIVIDAD ILLUSTRATED BY KAREN D. PANGANIBAN

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AND CONSEQUENTLY, SINCE MEDIA AFFECTS THE WAY PEOPLE PERCEIVE THE WORLD AROUND THEM, THESE MINORITIES START LIVING UNDER A VEIL OF LABELS THAT DO NOT TRUTHFULLY REPRESENT THEMSELVES. MOEANDET, RENOWNED FOR THEIR SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS AND PRANKS, made a YouTube

video on domestic violence to test how random people react to unbridled abuse as they see it happening right in front of them.

Their male actor was to abuse their female conspirator and vice versa. In the first scene, when the girl was being abused for cheating (physically and verbally) by her presumed boyfriend, the crowd around them turned aggressive. Several onlookers approached to help the woman while others went on to condemn the man. In the second scene, the situation was reversed, and the man this time played the cheater. The woman shouts at his partner, pulls his hair, and effeminates him with well-chosen harsh words. And although the act is the same, not a single onlooker of that busy sidewalk came near to help the man. Instead, they laughed, ridiculed him for cheating, and gave him snide comments like “you deserve that.” This social phenomenon is what you call a double standard.

Double standard is a situation in which two or more people are treated or perceived very differently from each other in a way that is unfair to one of them. Unfair to the point that basic human rights become violated, self-worth becomes questioned, and equality becomes a matter of preference and not a birthright. It is when a woman is criticized for attempting to perform the duties or aspire for a position that’s commonly considered to be that of a man. It is when a man driving a 1964 Cadillac at 40 km/h is stopped by police not because of overspeeding but because in the 60s, it is “unusual” to see a black man driving a nice car. These are just a couple events that one may live to encounter. And since not everyone gets to experience these situations first-hand, it can also be witnessed through the media.

“There is power in a story” is a line delivered through a CNN commercial. The media is a medium for cultivating, conveying and expressing such stories. It has power

because it can influence the people who take these stories into personal account. This, in turn, may either have a positive or negative effect, towards the audience that receives them. When you watch televised news or film, open a magazine, or read a blog post, you initially do so with the premonition that whatever story you are to digest is essentially and universally true –a consistent fact.

Minority groups are an example of clusters of people whose stories are widely presented in the media. According to the United Nations Minorities Declaration (UNMD), there is no internationally agreed definition as to which groups constitute minorities. It is often stressed that the existence of a minority is a question of fact and that any definition must include both objective factors (such as the existence of a shared ethnicity, language or religion) and subjective factors (including that individuals must identify themselves as members of a minority).

Through the media, there have been cases where unjust depictions towards minority groups have actively occurred; by the very instrument of delivering worldly realities, double standards have been involved. And consequently, since media affects the way people perceive the world around them, these minorities start living under a veil of labels that do not truthfully represent themselves.

The result? Minorities become unjustifiably judged, and this results to negative social responses. In No Country for Women, a non-profit organization that aims to combat gender-based violence and victimblaming through education, a contributor shared: “When I was in college, a professor attempted to rape my classmate, we reported it to our homeroom teacher. She told us: ‘Forget about it, these things happen in women’s colleges.’”

In the big screen, minorities, especially that relating to gender and race, are frequently given stereotypes as to how they should act. Africans T HE S P EC T R U M V O L 61 N O. 4

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WHEN YOU FEEL THAT A PART OF YOU HAS BEEN MISINTERPRETED, TRY TO CORRECT IT, AND EVEN IF YOU CAN’T DON’T SWEAT IT, BECAUSE IN THE END THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS WHAT YOU KNOW TO BE TRUE. are often considered ideal to portray the role of a warlord, British are thought to play great super villains (cause even their evil laugh has an accent), and homosexuals are often expected to provide the comedic element of a show. According to a study by the Ethics of Development in a Global Environment (EDGE) entitled Portrayal of Minorities in the Film, Media and Entertainment Industries: whether it’s appearing in disparaging roles or not appearing at all, minorities are the victim of an industry that relies on old ideas to appeal to the “majority” at the expense of the scorned minority. When minorities are shown in a negative light, or when one minority group is marked with false expectation, negative maltreatment towards them is taken lightly and what should have been unjust becomes something ordinary.

According to Rowena V. Bañes, PhD, the University’s Former Guidance and 22

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Evaluation Center (GEC) Director, discrimination “causes one to feel less of a person.” They become subjects of interest that are gradually objectified through social engineering. In the long run, unjust depictions of media towards minorities can lead to the “corruption of the mind to the one being told and injustice to the one being talked about.”

Prejudiced opinions towards minorities become false propaganda that will eventually spoil their self-esteem and may damage their ability to associate with other people.

Yet, why is it that the media still continues to utilize and conceptualize unjust depictions? This may be because, as Ms. Bañes also mentioned, we are living in a [multi-cultural] decade. There is a wide range of cultural differences among every individual. Because of that, we can no longer judge others with one-sided linear thinking.

“No one can be authentically human while he prevents other from doing so,” quotes Clint Smith on How to Raise a Black Son in America in his TED talk. Setting double standards, judging by stereotypes, and encouraging biases are just a few ways that can push a person to fall far from his humanity.

“Your perceptions of others reveal so much about your own personality,” says Dustin Wood, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Wake Forest University. “Seeing others positively reveals your own positive traits.”

If humanity is to be respected it must begin with oneself. Whether you are a victim of unjust and biased labels or not, have the courage to recognize your individuality, and understand that whatever makes you different is exactly what makes you unique. It is the signature of your personality. When you feel that a part of you has been misinterpreted, try to correct it, and even if you can’t, don’t sweat it, because in the end the only thing that matters is what you know to be true.

As quoted in the visual novel, Katawa Shoujo, “You are not alone, and you are not strange. You are you, and everyone has damage. Be the better person.” Our differences are never meant to define us, but to compliment us with one another—to show us that it is exactly through the myriad of cultures, the diverse intertwine of colorful and unique individuals, in the canvas that is our world, that art is created. S

FEATURE

A youth leader fervently claps his hands as he leads a number of youth in worship.

Faith is fleeting in the minds of youths. Some have lost the conviction of past generations when it comes to religious beliefs. But only some—not all.

Enter eight different stories stitched together by the power of faith.

BY LEX DIWA P. ALORO AND KATHERINE E. CO PHOTOGRAPHED BY ARIANA L. CHUA AND JHON ALDRIN M. CASINAS

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FAITH IS STRIVING. In a world afflicted by dying religious convictions, some strive to keep it alive. Imagine religion as a flame passed down from one torch to another. The bearers might be very different but they have one common objective in mind: to pass it on. Our parents’ generation has handed it to ours. It is not our compulsory responsibility to carry the torch but there are people who step up to accept the challenge. And in our world today, there are only little of them left.

Religious Youth Groups were established to attract the waning population of teenagers back to the congregation and off the streets.

But, according to a statistical study of an Evangelical research company called Barna Group, the number of youth signing up for these activities have been narrowed down to one out of four teens.

Churches in the Philippines have not been left out of this dilemma.

Cora*, a former youth group leader in her time, still remembers the golden years of religious youth groups in her barangay. She was a devoted organizer of said groups from 1990 to 1995. “It was the ideal state of youth groups back in our day,” Cora says, a spark of halcyon trapped in her eyes. “The moment the church bell tolled for a meeting, children would come running out of their homes. Some were even held back—literally—by their parents because it was already dark out. But, still, they came and even stayed usually until 11.”

The years have gone and so have the youths. Compared to the past, today’s youth groups only attract a very small portion of teens. But they still thrive. They’re very much alive. Even though in small numbers, their faith and devotion is big.

There are still youths who are dedicated to their cause of propagating God’s word. And though they have different religions, the fire that burns within them connects them as one.

THE PASTOR The mass has just ended—or, maybe, it has yet to begin. But in an empty house of God, a man wearing cargo shorts and sandals sits on the pew at the back. By the way he dresses up, you wouldn’t think of Pastor Jec Dan Borlado as someone who has handled youth groups for years or someone who has travelled around the world in secular and ecumenical pursuits. But looks will always be deceiving, for Pastor Jec has done all those stuff mentioned and more.

“My involvement started very young at Church camps,” the pastor says, recalling the time when he was a youth of the Church himself. “In college, I involved myself in ecumenical youth groups where we talked *NOT THEIR REAL NAMES

IMAGINE RELIGION AS A FLAME PASSED DOWN FROM ONE TORCH TO ANOTHER. THE BEARERS MIGHT BE VERY DIFFERENT BUT THEY HAVE ONE COMMON OBJECTIVE IN MIND: TO PASS IT ON. 24

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about service and social issues.”

Pastor Jec’s involvement with the Church developed further after college. He started to get involved with the National Office of the Churches in the Philippines in Quezon City, where he got connections that would later help him get involved with international church affairs. He was called into the Commission on Youth in Ecumenical Movement where he became the only representative of the Philippines among 25 other youth leaders in the world.

As a youth, Pastor Jec has done more than some people can in a lifetime. When he came back to the Philippines, he started handling the Church Youth of Circuit Canaan. He’s met a whole lot of youths active in Church with talents and quirks of their own. From environmentalists to spray painters. He’s met them, known them, and studied them. And he has firsthand testimonials to how religious youth groups affect the youth of today.

Young people gather in praise and fellowship in Ikthus’ Crossfire Youth Ministry after a long day at school.

THE ASPIRANT There is a church in Mayfair, along Lacson Street, where a preaching had just been conducted. On a nearby bench, the son of the pastor was seated.

Charles Jethro Nono stopped college, but not because of issues regarding grades or finances. In fact, there were no issues at all. The only reason was that he had a different calling.

Being the son of a pastor, Jethro was given a backstage pass to the inner workings of the church. As he was given incentives, he was also given responsibilities. At a young age, Jethro participated in their youth group called Baptist Youth Alive. There was a part of him that felt forced to join since his father was the pastor, but a greater portion of him had always wanted to join the youth group because of what most teenagers

YOU CAN’T JUST WALK AWAY FROM THE THING THAT HAS HELPED YOU MOST IN LIFE. searched for: fun. As Jethro states, “The bait is the fun and games, but the real hook is Christ.”

As he became the assistant leader of his youth group, fun and responsibilities came handin-hand. But even in these circumstances, his father’s title played a part on Jethro’s life. “There are times when I’m treated like a VIP, but I don’t mind it that much,” he confesses. “At times, I think it’s better if I weren’t the son of the pastor.

That way, people would treat me as normal as they treat others.”

Now, Jethro is aspiring to be the pastor and not just the son. Although, there’s nothing wrong with that, he wants to be his own person and to not just hitch a ride on his father’s profession.

His time with the Baptist Youth Alive gave him more reason to enter the congregation. Jethro is aware that the number of teenagers joining

Charles Jethro Nono

the church has dropped and one of his advocacies in being a pastor-intraining would be to focus more on the youth groups. “Three-fourths of our church is composed of youths,” Jethro says. Seeing that most of their churchgoers are young people, he promises, “I have many plans for our youth group. One of the reasons why I want to be a pastor is because I see the burden that is falling on the current pastors in our church. And I want to help them out.”

THE TEACHER Adobo is being cooked beside Aivan Apurtadera, a youth group leader of the Central Negros Youth Fellowship Union (CENYFU). He’s preparing dinner along with the other leaders. Hundreds of youth from Central Negros have gathered in their church for the revival of CENYFU and Aivan is one of those in charge of serving tonight’s meal. Knives coming down on cutting boards and condiments sizzling in oil. A busy kitchen indeed. Yet, amidst all the chaos, the youth leader sat down and shared his experience.

Aivan is 25. He’s been in the church’s youth group since he was in college. “First, someone invited me to join and it was at that time also that I was looking for a church that held masses at night,” Aivan recollects, smiling at how serendipitous the circumstances were. He was a working student with little to no free time in the day and was just looking for a church to go to at night. And then along came the opportunity of the CENYFU youth group. Fast forward to a few years later, and here he is, in a makeshift kitchen, up and ready to serve God and the youths.

As the adobo sizzles in the pan, Aivan talks of his views on youth groups. That if the youths of today will gather together under the grace of God, we can start a fire that will keep the passion of religion alive. “We are like coals. We are scattered at first and there seems to be no use for us when we’re separated. But then if we gather together and this one burning lump of coal unites with our pile, it will pass down its flame and we can start a fire within ourselves,” Aivan explains and smiles. “That burning lump of coal that will ignite us is Christ. Then, it’s up to us to pass the flame onto others.”

THE TRAILBLAZER Just a couple of meters away from the kitchen where the first batch of adobo has been cooked, another blazing lump of coal, such as Aivan, is washing the dishes. Shalimar Santiago Villar is the Vice President of CENYFU. With a name like hers, you’d think she is into political affairs.

Ironically enough, her passion lies in a field that has been separated from politics: religion.

Unlike Aivan who only found youth groups later in college, Shali has been active in church for the majority of her life. She’s been in service for so long that she can’t totally recall how it was before she joined in youth groups. “I guess it was just simple,” she states simply. “I was a normal youth but, of course, I was very immature back then.”

Along with being immature, Shalimar has admitted that she has gone through a phase of doubt, just like any teenager out there. But she has long since overcome that with the help of her youth group. And in return, Shali has put time and effort to perform her duties as the Vice President of the youth group organization, even with the stress of finishing college. And when asked if she would still consider shouldering these responsibilities, Shalimar answered, “My heart is here in CENYFU, and if God calls unto me, then, yes, because I know that He will not desert me.”

The connection that these youths have made with their religious groups reach deep within them that it’s hard to cut it loose. You can’t just walk away from the thing that has helped you most in life.

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Harvey Abasquez

THE AVANT-GARDE Harvey Abasquez has side-shaved hair dyed golden brown. He goes to gatherings with loud music and people dancing to the rhythm. But those gatherings are not merely parties. Those gatherings are his youth group meetings.

Fusion or FXN is a new breed of youth groups. The distinctive difference between FXN and traditional youth groups is its merging of entertainment and Bible learning. It adapts to the taste of the teens of today in hopes of attracting more and more young people into the church.

This is where their concerts and mall events come in. Harvey is one of the dancers in FXN. He’s performed in concerts with the Christian duo, Scarlet Avenue, and in mall tours of the FXN dance ministry. His passion for dancing led him to be in the youth organization. But just like Jethro, it was the love of God that made him stay.

Harvey was never a religious person in the past. His relationship with God was waning and it was fate that he discovered FXN before he had completely lost his faith. It was October 22 when Harvey and his friends were walking home from school. A schoolmate of theirs spotted them and pushed them into a strange, dark building by the end of the street. They had no idea what was going on until the people of different religions started singing songs of praise. They were pushed into Fusion’s Fire Night, the climax of spiritual awareness among the FXN youths.

As well as the prayer concerts and Fire Nights, another distinction that FXN has from other youth groups is that it doesn’t follow a certain religion. “Jesus has no religion,” as explained by Harvey, “When you enter Fusion, you are not a Roman Catholic or a Baptist or a Mormon.

You are simply a person praising God.” 26

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THE RESTORED On a rainy Saturday morning, a CAT officer commands her squadron in a firm, authoritative voice. All the cadets follow, and the group falls out of their positions as instructed. The officer proceeds to the CAT office and immediately breaks her poise. In sharp contrast with what she portrayed a minute ago, she erupts into a fit of laughter contagious enough to lift the other officers’ spirits to a momentary euphoria, breaking a layer of stress and weariness.

Just weeks ago, however, as she walked past the classrooms in the school hallways, she was commanding herself to put her life together. To stop tearing up at class every time something gets brought up that reminded her of a fact she still couldn’t accept—that she’d been left by the guy she dedicated her high school years to.

“It was my first heartbreak. I remember crying myself to sleep every night. But it was getting up in the morning that was the hardest,” said Ezer*, a college student and a witness to the divine miracles manifested in religious youth groups.

She invested all her sadness in two months’ worth of tears. If at home, she’d cry herself in her room the whole day, and her sisters would occasionally just bring her food and everything else she needed. During class days, she would stop by her school’s chapel, but instead of praying with someone dear—someone who had been beside her for years, she went alone. Sometimes, she couldn’t even force herself to pray; she could only cry out.

“I can’t deny that that point in my life really affected me as a whole. I was at my lowest,” she expressed. She said she didn’t even care about her body, remembering that point in time when she got hospitalized after refusing food for a whole week due to the unsuppressed remorse caused by the breakup.

Everything was worth it, though, she said, after basking in a newfound beginning during a church’s anniversary celebration, where she personally witnessed testimonies and transformations, including her own.

She was invited to the event as well as introduced by a trusted friend to Youth Xtreme (YX), the youth sector of His Life Ministries, where she decided to accept Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.

“Before I entered YX, I was just a ‘normal’ Christian. Every Sunday, I go to church, pray and acknowledge God,” she said, adding that she didn’t have any deep and intimate relationship with the Lord. For her, she just follows whatever her family does because they believe in Him. She prays just because it feels good to tell your problems to someone invisible. But entering the group had changed everything: “Before, I study just to get recognition, but now I study to glorify

Him. Before, I was all over the wrong kind of love, but now I am with the Unconditional Love that died on the cross for my sins. Before, I was just civil with my family, but now I am more expressive, treating them as my first ministry.”

Her greatest heartbreak turned out to be her greatest blessing. Had it not been for that phase of great trial and sorrow, she wouldn’t have joined the youth group, which led her to who she is today: Happy, and her heart very well mended and whole.

THE SAVED There is a mass confirmation ceremony at the San Antonio Abad Parish and one of their catechists is sitting with me in the small cafeteria.

Judy Pacente Ballentes, one of the most active youths in the Vicariate of Bacolod, has come to share her story as the church beside her gets filled with children wearing their Sunday’s best and getting accompanied by their parents.

“March 15, 2014.” She even remembers the exact date of when she joined. “I was invited by my best friend, Marielle. The reason why I went was her. The reason why I stayed until now is God’s love.”

For Judy, God’s love is equal to happiness. The kind of happiness that she only found in her youth group. She became so invested in being part of the youth of the church that, at one point, she felt like her whole world revolved around it. With preparations for their Holy Week road show, her late arrivals at home became more and more that it resembled the attendance sheet of a student who dropped out because of excessive tardiness.

“My mom scolded me because I was always home late. I had an exam the next morning, but we had a workshop for the road show,” Judy reminisces. She was misunderstood at home because of her involvement in church. Still, her family couldn’t quite grasp the rationale behind her spending more time at church than at home.

Finally, her family came to see why Judy couldn’t just go home early and abandon her youth group. “I was assigned to the 13th Station, the last stop of the Stations of the Cross in our road show, in which Christ is buried. I was to give an inspiring message and the head of our catechesis told me to share the time when I felt that I was being buried. So I shared the story about my dad,” she pauses.

Judy’s father passed away back in 2012.

Before Judy discovered the aid of her youth group, despair was her only companion at nights.

But when she found solace among other youths who were just as lost and problematic as her, it showed her that there was still hope. “That’s why many people who watched cried. My family was watching and that was when I poured out all of

Judy Ballentes

these unspoken feelings that emerged when Papa died. It was only then and there that my family understood why I invest so much of my time to the church.”

Every time she’s in the familiar solace of her church, she is able to forget the death of her father just for a moment, no matter how brief it is. And in that brief moment, Judy can finally put the past behind her, piece by piece. “The church is slowly teaching me to move on and to accept that he’s gone,” she concludes.

Judy cried twice whilst sharing her story but there was no denying the fact that her smiles triumphed over her tears. Being part of her youth group helped her so much that she wonders, “What if I hadn’t found the youth ministry? Would I still be here now?” The answer, of course, just as all the other answers to the questions of ‘what ifs’ in our lives, is indefinite. But it doesn’t need to be answered, because Judy is here now. And that’s the important thing: She still strives. She’s very much alive.

THE PHOENIX 30 minutes until midnight. Zeb Fernandes* is fiddling with the bracelets on his left wrist, eyes flashing to the dark corners of activity center under a church and the sleeping youths occupying them. He’s breathing loudly because of the healing affliction in his lung.

Zeb is one of those kids who lost their way. Growing up in a rough neighborhood, it seemed like the only current he could ride was leading up to the wrong path. The one that could drown him. For a while, it did.

The ironic dawning of Zeb’s downward spiral started in a church.

Or at least, it was a church once, but when he passed by there one

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afternoon with his cousin a lifetime ago, it was just a piled up, dilapidated ruins where a dodgy-looking neighbor offered them weed.

After the encounter, Zeb slowly began sinking in the quicksand that is the drug world. As what most teenagers in his neighborhood did, Zeb joined a fraternity. His fraternity was a vicious one. They were the ones you’d see vandalizing private properties and starting brawls in the alleys.

But if there was one thing about his fraternity that Zeb cherished most, it was how they always had each other’s backs. So when he started pushing drugs, his brothers were there to help out. The fraternity began selling drugs to other kids, making transactions in the oval of their high school.

Selling drugs and shooting up, too. As Zeb says, “Basta pusher, user.”

Business, for Zeb, stopped during summer. Connections with his brothers died down as well as their sales. Their customers were off to their summer vacations. It was only rational for the pushers to take a vacation themselves. But a vacation meant that the supply for drugs would stop even for Zeb, too, and a summer without drugs eventually took a toll.

“The last time I took drugs was February 16, 2013,” he says, eyebrows knitted together. Zeb had cut ties with their druglord after that. “It felt like my blood couldn’t support me. I couldn’t sleep and I wasn’t comfortable in my own body. Conscience started filling my head and I couldn’t get a grip on anything that can help me get through it,” Zeb recalls the state of his withdrawal from drugs. That went on for two months, prompting his parents to take him to the hospital for check-ups but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong. They didn’t know about Zeb’s drug use.

“After two months, the withdrawal was crushing me,” Zeb says, keeping his head down. “That was the time I lost control.”

May 26, 2013. The windows of Zeb’s bedroom were shut, the curtain on his doorframe was cast down. Zeb wasn’t alone. With him were a kitchen knife and a million emotions eating him inside. A moment of indecision, and stab! Right through his left chest. And another stab, and another stab, until there were three. Finally, he pulls the bloody blade out, but he’s not done. He slits his left wrist open and collapses.

Hours passed by and Zeb was left unattended, lying in a puddle of his own blood in a dark room. Too weak to shout, he can only turn to God for help. Offering prayers until, finally, somebody came.

His family found him, and he was aware of the things happening as he was rushed to the hospital. He was aware of the distraught he caused his mother and that hurt look on his father’s eyes. The pain from his selfinflicted injury did not matter. The pain of staring into the eyes of his parents, who he felt like he had let down, was greater than three stabs to the chest. Zeb was rushed into the emergency room, his family not leaving the gurney until the doctors came.

He missed his heart. His left lung suffered, instead. Zeb was hospitalized for eleven days in critical care. Eleven days of his family supporting him, pushing him to stay strong, yet he remained hopeless.

Until one night…

“I couldn’t tell if it was a dream or medicine-induced hallucination, but that time, I saw I was standing with God. We were in a garden and angels were surrounding us. They were tall. So tall. I was about to ask 28

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FAITH IS A POWERFUL THING. IT HAS THE CAPACITY TO BRING US TOGETHER WHEN RELIGION SOMETIMES CREATES BARRIERS FOR US. for forgiveness when God says to me, ‘Stay silent.

Just hold on to me for I will not desert you.’”

All hopelessness vanished the morning after.

With support from his family, Zeb recovered and was invited to a church youth group by their new parish priest, Pastor Dumdum. Ashamed of what he’s done and afraid that others might judge him, Zeb was unsure until Pastor Dumdum reminded him the meaning of his name: God is my judge.

And so he came. When Zeb first walked into the youth group meeting, he didn’t expect everyone to be so understanding. This feeling of being accepted made Zeb come back, night after night, until the scars of his horrible experience have transcended into life lessons that shaped him into the person he is today.

May 20, 2014. Zeb was baptized with the help of his youth group. His lung is still healing along with his scars, the physical and emotional ones. But through this new community of youths united by their faith in God, Zeb was able to get through the hardships of his circumstances. And as one of his favorite Bible verses, 2nd Corinthians 5:17 reads, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

30 minutes past midnight. Zeb Fernandes shows the bracelets covering his scars. The biggest one, the one he holds most dear, inscribed in cursive letter says, “New Creation”. And a new creation, he truly is.

Some may argue that faith will not save us.

That in the end, death will be the only thing waiting for us and that our faith will only die along with us.

They may have a point. Faith will not keep us alive in a sense that we all die in the end. But faith keeps us human. It instills in us the only good entity inside Pandora’s Box: hope.

Faith is a powerful thing. It has the capacity to bring us together when religion sometimes creates barriers for us. Burn through those barriers with the flame given to you. Keep it blazing and pass it on. S

DISCUSSION

THOSE SHRILL TICK-TOCKS

Have you ever felt the imminence of your death magnified? Have you feared all your dreams and aspirations cannot come all to fruition because life is ohso-finite? The Germans have a word for that.

BY KATHERINE E. CO ILLUSTRATED BY JOWAN DAVE G. GUIDES

IT IS THAT EXACT FEELING when you catch a glimpse of the clock, seeing its hands ticking tirelessly to no satisfaction, and you heave out an anxious sigh, bearing a sudden loss of energy and spirit. You may not admit you know this, but you suddenly sense that you are running out of time. “What about my dreams, my aspirations, my goals, my unfulfilled potential?” You ask. You are suddenly hit by the grave realization that somehow, what you have done with your life up until now wasn’t close to enough. Is time my real enemy, or is it just me? Now, this right here is not uncommon ground. The Germans have just about created a word for this phenomenon centuries ago, and it’s called Torschlusspanik, which can literally be translated to “gate-shut panic” or in a similar usage, “gate-closing panic”.

The term has been around ever since the medieval times, specifically during the Middle Ages. It was used to describe the fear city residents felt of not catching up with the city gates before they were closed at dark as they were constantly threatened by attacks from thieves and other enemies. Its usage since then has been constantly expanding for the past centuries, being used in journalistic articles to describe certain events in history, of which one notable example was back in 1961 when Time Magazine attempted to give a name to the “disease” that had plagued Communist East Germany when it could no longer control the outflow of citizens that were fleeing to the western democrat counterpart despite various efforts of its leaders to stop it.

In the modern times, Torschlusspanik is widely accepted to be the fear of time running out, that one’s opportunities are diminishing with age, and that somehow, life is passing them by. By common instances, it goes from being directly linked to the sense of urgency of some people to get married before a certain age (which differs in

every culturally-bounded region) to the ever disastrous midlife crisis usually characterized by a longing to feel youthful again and a deep sense of sorrow for unaccomplished goals that some middle-aged individuals experience. In the field of business, the term has also been often associated to investors’ panicky behavior (which is most likely influenced by mob mentality) when it comes to keeping up with stock market trends.

This terminology, however we may use it, has always found a niche in describing the inescapable concept of failure and the terror of reaching a conclusion that would only consist of regrets and unfulfilled dreams. Language has attempted to encapsulate this little fact in expressible terms to warn those who are still not on the brink of it—to those who might need the pounding terror pulsing through their veins, be it mild or severe, to make sense of this enigmatic reality all of us may face if we decide to fail to act on this very moment. S

THIS TERMINOLOGY, HOWEVER WE MAY USE IT, HAS ALWAYS FOUND A NICHE IN DESCRIBING THE INESCAPABLE CONCEPT OF FAILURE AND THE TERROR OF REACHING A CONCLUSION THAT WOULD ONLY CONSIST OF REGRETS AND UNFULFILLED DREAMS.

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COVER STORY

ALLAHU AKBAR

GOD IS GREATER Through the lens of three people, RJ Nichole L. Ledesma explores the nature of faith, religious education, prejudice and acceptance revolving around a single, inciting event.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOHN ALDRIN M. CASINAS AND NICHOL FRANCIS T. ANDUYAN

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I. So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.� Acts 10:34 (ESV)

*CHOSE NOT TO DISCLOSE HER FULL NAME

IN ONE CORNER OF THE ROOM, there is a girl named Sophia*, a second year college student. Today she sits in the same identical armchair lined up to form grids on the fourwalled, air-conditioned classroom. Today seems like any other day. Sophia, along with her classmates, expects to learn, as with her other subjects, from an hour of lecture.

Outside, hallways are clearing up. The bell is about to ring.

A teacher is about to come in.

Like any other day, the lecture starts with a prayer. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

With hands held together in a juncture of devotion, Sophia lowers her head too.

Above the teacher now closing his eyes in prayer, and inches close to the whiteboard as if hovering over the students, is a figure of Jesus Christ on the cross. Even the wooden doors of the classrooms have crosses on them. It is made clear, from the very moment you enter the campus premises, that this is a Catholic university. It is populated largely by Catholic students. Sophia being among them.

As with any other Catholic Christian universities, a course on the history and practice of Christianity is deemed fit and mandatory to all students. This is in the hopes of inculcating in each graduate a sense of faith, service and communion, the core values of this university, in line with Christian teachings.

In this particular hour, the girl named Sophia is having a class called Religious Studies, the same course which serves as a venue for such Christian values to be discussed and dissected.

Today, the teacher is about to show them clips of the recent bombing in Paris by religious extremists. Half of the class, or more, are familiar with the incident. Some of them even had their profile pictures on Facebook filtered with the colors of the Parisian flag in solidarity with the victims and their families. Some of them are familiar about certain narratives of the event learned from news sources,

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“LIKE MOST CATHOLICS, I BELIEVE THAT GOD IS AN ALMIGHTY BEING TO BE FEARED,” SHE SAID. “BUT I DON’T BELIEVE THAT HE HATES PEOPLE BASED ON THEIR RACE, RELIGION OR THEIR SEXUALITY BECAUSE THAT WOULD CONTRADICT EVERYTHING THAT I HAVE BEEN TAUGHT.”

especially from viral content on the Internet.

Today the teacher is about to show the students, and by extension teach, a certain narrative of the incident which he deemed true and faithful to his values. This, by extension, in the eyes of an unsuspecting student, is a reflection of the whole Christian values of the university he is representing. Sophia is listening intently, anticipating, as expected of her in an hour of lecture in a day like any other.

The logo of Fox News flashes on screen. The reporters proceed to read their scripts from a teleprompter somewhere at the back of the studio, where the stream of words is taken as a matter of fact, both by the potential audience and its speaker.

The report is firm in its narrative of reporting the incident, and echoed by the teacher, that relayed accountability to Islam. This happened. This is what happens when they come to us. No one budged except Sophia.

Sophia gets up and leaves the classroom, risking the many stares of her classmates. If in judgment or praise or awe, she does not know. All she knew was this is all too disgusting for her.

“I WASN’T LEARNING ANYTHING,” she said about her first few meetings

in the said professor’s class. “There wasn’t even a syllabus yet. All he ever talked about were other religions, especially Muslims, and how bad they are. Nothing related to the topic.”

As it turns out, that was not the first time Sophia experienced similar incidents. In a previous instance, the teacher showed them another clip claiming that Islam will take over the world for the reason that they have “five babies for every Catholic baby.” The video also

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claimed that by 2020 the whole of Europe will be an Islamic state. “It didn’t make a lot of sense,” she said.

In a separate incident, the teacher also claimed that immigration was destroying America, and not just illegal immigration, but also legal immigration. “I don’t get that one either. I’m glad he didn’t show any videos of Trump because I might have left even earlier.”

“When I was still there, I was upset, but I didn’t do anything because I didn’t like fighting with teachers. There aren’t any good consequences through that. I just got up. I’m glad that I just went out and left,” she added.

After untagging herself from the said class and being transferred to another, she felt everything was back to normal. Her new teacher seemed to be alright. But what she found upsetting was how the previous teacher kept on talking about her in his other classes.

“I didn’t do anything much but just leave,” Sophia said. The teacher had allegedly called her disrespectful and tactless, according to reports from her classmates.

Initially, they weren’t on her side due to the initial shock of what she has done. A few of them were even mad, dubbing her close-minded, and even joking that she would be a trending hashtag on Twitter. But eventually the frustration took on them, too. “They started seeing why I left and now they wish they left as well. So, who’s the one laughing now?”

She also heard from her classmates that the teacher went on to claim, and they quote, that it is “not faith that will save the world but your religion.” The teacher further declared, matter-of-factly, that you needed to be Catholic in order for you to be saved.

One boy in that class was from another Christian denomination.

He tried to defend his faith, only to be silenced. The teacher told the boy directly that he couldn’t be saved. As a retort, the teacher further challenged him to find a verse in the Bible that says his religion would save him or else he’d fail in class.

The boy kept silent. He did so for the remaining days of his class.

“I THINK RELIGIOUS STUDIES should cover all religions,” Sophia said. “If we’re only going to study the Catholic religion, Roman Catholic belief specifically, then at least change the name of the course to Christian Living Education—as most schools call it—or Theology. When you name it Religious Studies you’d assume you’ll be studying all kinds of

beliefs from the Catholic to the Islam to the Shinto.”

Sophia and her parents are conservative Catholics but it didn’t stop them from being progressive in their views. Her parents saw what other conservative Catholic parents, who had no tolerance for anything but the traditional, bore fruit from their children: prejudiced and often bullies of other religious sectors. Her parents didn’t want that to happen for her and her sister.

For Sophia, conservativeness comes with digging heels. The Philippines, she said, is pretty much digging its heels in refusing to budge from their old values to open up for a more liberal world view. “But I do like how the LGBTs are received here which a lot of foreigners find strange for such a conservative Catholic country.”

“Like most Catholics, I believe that God is an almighty being to be feared,” she said. “But I don’t believe that He hates people based on their race, religion or their sexuality because that would contradict everything that I have been taught.”

She suggests that the first step towards a more progressive University of St. La Salle is through focusing change on the Religious Studies programs. “In this instance, education really is key because some people are dead-set on their beliefs that every single Muslim they meet is a terrorist,” she said, adding that the unjust generalization that all Muslims are evil only started when the bombings started, where media coverage can be severely misinterpreted through uncritical eyes. “People bond easily to hate something. They like to jump on the bandwagon. It’s human nature, and it’s sick to be called that, but it is.”

Sophia is proud to have a diverse group of friends. Neither race, sexuality nor religion matters. She argues one’s openness to other cultures could potentially combat ignorance and breed empathy. The mere act of being introduced to someone from another religion, she said, already helps someone rethink their old perceptions of the world. This, in turn, can help shatter false perceptions of other groups.

“It’s naive to learn only one set of beliefs because the world is this huge, diverse place.

We should look at everything,” she said. “We should study it and just enjoy the diversity of the world. There’s so many of us out there.

You don’t have to believe in it yourself.”

II. In The Noble Quran, Allah states: … and you will find the nearest of them in affection to the believers those who say, “We are Christians.” That is because among them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant. And when they hear what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth. They say, “Our Lord, we have believed, so register us among the witnesses.” [5:82-83].

At about six in the afternoon, as the sun is growing dim, Hagir Mohamed walks toward a familiar place.

Facing the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca, she centers herself for prayer and recites the words like a song on air. He is the God the One, God the Eternal. He begot no one or was he begotten. No one is comparable to Him. She bows, feeling the presence of Allah before her, in a holy space of deep reverence.

Students around her stare. Some look on in utter wonder. Another one chuckles. Another whispers something inaudible.

Meanwhile, the prayer continues: Glory to my Lord the exalted. Glory to my Lord the exalted. Glory to my Lord the exalted.

She prostates twice, an act of submitting one’s self totally to the heed of prayer, then lands on a sitting position.

“It starts with the phrase, ‘Allahu Akbar,’” she explains in an interview.

“It is declaring God is greater than my worries, greater than my concerns and my daily hassles. I’m leaving everything behind in answering the call for the prayer, the call of God.” ALTHOUGH BORN AND RAISED in Saudi Arabia, Hagir Mohamed has

pursued her studies in various cities all over the world: Sudan, Malaysia, Manila and now, Bacolod. She is now currently taking up BS Psychology in pursuit of a medical career.

“I’m settled. I feel like I can stay here,” she shared.

Hagir resides here now, and it’s been a year and four months since, along with her older brother, who has studied Dentistry in the University of the Philippines-Diliman and has stayed in the country for 11 years.

“It’s definitely a journey,” Hagir said, both referring to the literal act of relocation throughout her academic life and her rich interior life through her faith, Islam.

Her travels have amassed her friends of diverse faiths: Christians, Hindus, Atheists and even agnostics. “Back in Sudan, it’s hard to T HE S P EC T R U M V O L 61 N O. 4

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distinguish Christians from Muslims because it doesn’t matter,” she said, smiling as if in fondness.

Back at home, she recollects, her family has encouraged her to adapt to a culture of decency and kindness. They did not even prohibit any of their children to delve and learn different religions and belief systems.

“As a Muslim you’re supposed to smile at whoever you come across with regardless of whether you have met them before or not. It’s not conditional,” she said. “When you look deeper into it, whenever I greet you, it’s like I’m acknowledging your existence. I know you are here. I am showing you my respect and my love even though I have nothing to do with you. This creates a certain kind of harmony, a peaceful environment— to not just coexist with each other, but to take it to another level.”

UPON COMING TO BACOLOD, among other schools, La Salle was her first

choice. She had a good image of the City of Smiles as well, picturing a people of warmth and optimism.

Her brother, who has already gone here before her, and his positive accounts, added to her good impression of the place. Despite this, he prepped her somehow and told her “to just see the goodness in other people. Don’t let others judge you. You know who you are.”

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She didn’t give it much attention that time as she was amazed by the kindness of people.

“I was getting so much questions,” she recalled. “When I walk by the road I’d get these stares. Mostly they are smiling. I was getting that type of good intention. Some stop and ask me questions out of curiosity— ‘Why are you wearing this? Why are you doing that? Why are you not allowed to do certain stuff?’— I was actually enjoying answering these types of questions,” she said.

When you get into a new environment, Hagir explained, you’ll never notice that you are different until you hear slight snickering, mumbled comments and confused stares from other people behind your back. These were small things, but they gradually turned into sheer insensitivity through racial remarks. “Sometimes when I’m just walking to my class peacefully I will come across several incidents.”

She recounts this one time when, in the middle of the act of praying near Santuario, she heard a few laughs behind. Yet she carried on, praising God. “IT’S A CHOICE TO GIVE THEM POWER over you. You’re empowering

them to proceed what it is that they do or you can decide to stop there,” Hagir said, her voice audibly rising, not in anger but passionate fervor.

“It’s a choice for you to let this in; a choice to believe it and to take

“I DON’T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH CHRISTIANITY,” SHE ADDED. “I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IGNORANCE. I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH PREJUDICE. AND ON A LARGE SCALE, I THINK IT STILL EXISTS IN THE WORLD.”

part in it. I could be mean and rude because I’m feeling hurt and I’m trying to project my pain, or instead, I wouldn’t accept it in the very beginning. If you think about it in another way, they just might be going through something themselves, you know. It’s not supposed to be an issue,” she explained.

“Instead of making them feel guilty, actually show them goodness.

It’s up to them to decide whether or not what they said or did was wrong. It’s not up to me.”

ON THAT DAY Sophia got up and left the classroom, Hagir was there,

too, sitting on one of the same identical armchairs lined up to form grids on the four-walled, air-conditioned classroom. On that day, she witnessed someone mock her belief in front of her.

“I don’t want to make it personal. I just feel like he doesn’t understand my faith.” This is how Hagir wants to look at the incident.

This is a healthy way of looking at it, she said. “If I make it personal, whatever he does, I’d think of it as out of hate. I will be judging him unfairly.”

“When I reported it, they were shocked,” she said of the administration’s reaction to the incident. “They made it clear to me that it is against their policy. They were very understanding. Their acceptance level was amazing, and they assured us that this is one

individual that does not represent La Salle.”

Upon hearing the report, the administration quickly responded by transferring her into another class.

“I don’t have a problem with Christianity,” she added. “I have a problem with ignorance. I have a problem with prejudice, and on a large scale, I think it still exists in the world.”

ON JUNE 12, 2016, a man carrying an assault rifle and a pistol went into

Pulse Club in Florida to commit, what is so far dubbed as, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. Omar Mateen was allegedly pledging allegiance to the ISIS, and with this, certain narratives of the incident became anti-Islam propaganda.

“I don’t avoid it, but my perspective and the way I approach it is different from before,” Hagir said. “I used to feel the need to defend myself every single time.”

In times like this, where acts of hatred and violence are abound, news outlets become platforms for misguided blame towards Islam.

In spite of this, the Muslim community, Hagir said, is in solidarity with the affected individuals and in deep grief at the loss of human lives.

“I will be unapologetic because this person does not represent me nor my religion,” she said, adding that her religion rejects the act of killing as something unjustifiable, and the action of one terrorist does not embody their values at all. “This is a burden I am not supposed to carry.”

She also laments how people define her faith through their appearance and at how people resort to labels in defining it. This, in turn, does not give justice to the whole essence of Islam and their values.

“If you do not go beyond these misconceptions, we’re always going to be stuck here,” she said.

“I’ll always be the Muslim girl in the class, always asked, ‘So the men in your faith are allowed to marry four women?’, and that’s it.

We don’t go beyond that. These questions— they are superficial.

It portrays the faith as if saying: ‘See, I don’t want to know more; I just want to highlight fun facts and that’s it. Instead of asking the meaningful questions, it will just be the girl with the headscarf, whose men in her faith are allowed to marry four women, instead of knowing what the marriage union of Islam is. We don’t go beyond that.”

Language is another key point according to Hagir. “Comprehending it is not enough but they have to understand the culture of the language. Here, I have to translate everything,” she said, adding that in translation, some pure essence of it can be lost.

“If you hear Allahu Akbar, the ones who talk to me about that think it has a different meaning. You should know that I say it 85 times a day because I pray five times. You never heard it from me while praying but you hear it over the news in a specific context, the political agenda and so many [other] aspects into it. So it gives you an atmosphere. It creates a crack or a gap between Muslims and Christians.”

THE FIRST WORD mentioned in the Quran translates to ‘Read,’ Hagir shared.

Archangel Gabriel came upon the Prophet Muhammad and compelled him to read. He refused Gabriel’s request saying, “I cannot read.” This happened three times, but the angel kept on pressing his bosom every time he expressed refusal. Eventually, he was able to repeat the verse five times, which goes: “Read in the name of thy lord and cherisher who created: Created man out of a clot of congealed blood. Read! And thy lord is most bountiful, He who taught the use of pen; Taught man that which he knew not.” “[Islam] compels one to actively seek knowledge. A lot of reading, seeking and searching,” Hagir explained.

She also believes that this is true for the nature of all faiths, citing

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“IT’S NATURAL FOR MISUNDERSTANDING TO HAPPEN, BUT IT’S A SHAME FOR IT TO BE WATERED WITH IGNORANCE.”

one saying that made a deep impression on her when she was a child: “The beginning of faith is doubt.”

“That’s why I keep saying it’s a journey because sometimes the answers don’t come right to me instantly.

Sometimes when I reflect, it’s so unclear,” she said. “So whoever wants guidance will find it, and whoever wants guidance will be guided if they seek it humbly.”

This applies especially so in an age of abundance of knowledge, she explained. “We are more fearful. We are more doubtful,” she said. “We doubt anything. It’s like the grey era. There is no black and white. There’s no yes and no, and when in doubt, we reject everything because it’s the easier way.”

Instead, she said, we should be able to be more comfortable with our doubts. For her, her fears and doubts are even the things that strengthen her faith.

TO ACHIEVE A BETTER WORLD, Hagir believes, people must

honor and acknowledge each other’s differences.

In her new life here in Bacolod, she has met a few people who, in their own little way, make that possible.

“They don’t know the impact they have made on me with their comforts and their kindness,” she said. “Some I would not just call my classmates but I would rather call them my friends.”

One of them is Sophia. “She is an amazing person,” Hagir said, her eyes lighting up at the mention of a good friend.

They met in another Religious Studies class back when they were first year. In trying times, especially during her encounter with the professor, Sophia helped her build courage. She was also the one who encouraged her to report the incident and convinced her not to let her sentiments go unnoticed. “I bottled up everything during those times,” Hagir admits. With Sophia, Hagir felt empowered.

She remembers asking her: “Are you the one who walked out of the class?” To which Sophia replied a defiant yes. Hagir wasn’t surprised. It was the kind of brave act that Sophia would most likely do— and she did.

They laughed it off, saying no more of the incident. It was way behind them now.

As they walked side by side, honoring the spaces between them— a varied history of beliefs and culture— and despite it, what connects them— a friendship built on compassion— she felt, for that moment, the world was a better place.

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III. Then We sent following their footsteps Our messengers and followed [them] with Jesus, the son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel. And We placed in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy and monasticism, which they innovated; We did not prescribe it for them except [that they did so] seeking the approval of Allah…

[57:27] Dear Madam, I write to you with these verses on my mind painting a glimpse of the true Christian character, which I have always found the warmth in its presence. The climax of softhearted spirituality is what Islam has taught me about my fellow Christian mates. This is vividly present in Filipinos at large whom I have grown with. Sadly, an individually carried happening has come on the opposite of that. As I firmly isolate these actions away from the Lasallian persona and the Christian values, I strongly recommend it being addressed as I seek your wisdom of thought and courage of heart. Today, my religion Islam is highly misunderstood for the actions of some. Some who have tried to highjack this beautiful faith for their good and some who have accepted this highjack. If Islam was to be misjudged on a propagated media outlet, we could find a reason to overlook and understand, but when it happens in a classroom of La Salle, where I last expect prejudice and mostly anticipate pure love and polished knowledge, I can’t really accept it. I won’t accept it for my religion, neither would I accept it for your institution that preaches understanding and is based on love. It is to my knowledge and faith that [University of St. La Salle] is following this matter with all studied care.

Dear Madam, the injustice in comparing a religion that teaches killing one innocent soul counts as killing an entire human race and saving one soul counts as saving it all to Hitler’s Anti-Semitism tells how far irrational these claims are. Claiming that the last well of our beloved prophet (Peace be upon Him) on his deathbed were violence and mischief is an absolute form of disgrace when it comes to realization that his last words were “establish prayers and take care of those who you are responsible for” and “be gentle with the glass bottles [referring to women in the most beautiful gentle Arabic term which English translation would not do justice to]”. The word “Jihad” is frankly a molested term often used with no decent attribution to its true meaning where it means “to struggle”, a term used to describe the difficulty faced in doing the right thing.

Madam, claiming that a divine revelation must be altered for that it preaches violence or hate highlights how much misconception there is and how only it’s a fertile ground for hate— something that we both oppose relentlessly. It’s natural for misunderstanding to happen, but it’s a shame for it to be watered with ignorance. The first word revealed of the last testimony, Qur’an, was “read”: Read in the name of your Lord who has created and for that I believe that knowledge is precious. Knowledge cures and knowledge elevates. Please let not a minaret of knowledge be spoiled with hate. Let not a sacred value of acceptance and coexistence be taken off its context. I’ve seen Christian schools inviting Mosques and Islamic centers to teach its students what Islam truly is, not looking for an empty debate but working hard to achieve understanding which will definitely not be achieved through ever-changing politically motivated one-sided news shows played in a classroom. The need for unity and mutual understanding today is true as the enemies of humanity breed on division. Your institution is a producer, I believe, of tomorrow’s leaders; let’s do something today that our tomorrow will thank us for.

I have written this letter on behalf of my sister because I know how deeply it affects her to narrate it over and over. But it’s not just about my sister or her classmates from different religions who still go through it all until today, but it’s mainly about doing the right thing and standing up for the truth as we are all witnesses of Allah, God The Father, on the lands he made us in charge of. The beauty of which I have witnessed in the warmly crafted and abundantly gifted Filipino nation speaks volumes of itself and preaches the hospitality of heart that accepts you deep within. May Allah increase you in blessings and pardon those who have mistakenly misrepresented it.

With that, I trust the wisdom that Almighty God has laid within you and stand in gratitude for your precious time.

Yours truly, A human being Mohamed, Hagir’s brother

Sunday, December 06, 2015 T HE S P EC T R U M V O L 61 N O. 4

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ENVIRONMENT

NATURAL DOMINION

Trees are being traded for skyscrapers, natural landmarks are being dealt for cement pavements. Modernization has greatly affected our environment in both positive and negative aspects. Find out the actions of the government to balance its pros and cons.

BY LYLE JOHN E. BALANA AND IRIS DENISE N. RIVERA ILLUSTRATED BY JOWAN DAVE G. GUIDES

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THE ROAD TO BACOLOD is paved with litter and the cost of progress. In between the smiling pictures portraying ecological preservation are the traces of inattentive governance.

Small piles of garbage are lain out erratically across the sidewalk. Car engines grind at the air but never loud enough for passers-by to pay any mind. The rivers seem subdued, sometimes brown with sickness, sometimes dotted with multicolored plastic bags. Few notice, and even fewer care. Now little remains of our forests and rivers and pristine lots, and we don’t mind.

This concern, overwhelming as it is in the present, is being largely addressed by the provincial government. Their focus is not on the cities, but on the remnants of an undeveloped past that persist through increasing awareness.

To start with, Negros Occidental has been managing protected areas under three classifications: Natural Parks, National Marine Reserves and Watershed Forest Reserves. Natural Parks, so called because of their landscapes’ focus on development and preservation, count Mt. Canlaon (24,558 hectares) North Negros Forest Reserve (80,000 hectares) and Sagay City Marine Reserve (32,000 hectares) as an extant of its definition. As for Marine Reserves,

there’s Hulao Hulao Reef in Brgy. Caliling, Cauayan, Campoma-nes Bay in Brgy. 4 and Brgy. Maricalum in Sipalay, and Palm Leaf in Brgy. Pook, Hinobaan. Finally, the 3 major Watershed Forest Reserves in the province, namely Bago River Watershed (61,926 hectares); Ilog-Hilabangan Watershed (10,211 hectares); and Kabankalan Watershed (432 hectares) that provide safe, sustainable water resources.

Of course, the focus isn’t just on preservation— expansion is also a concern.

The Provincial Government of Negros Occidental, through the Provincial Environment Management Office (PEMO), has reforested and rehabilitated 149 coastal sites and 33 upland sites for a total of 277,641 forest trees in 2011. Adoption of environmentfriendly technologies, such as Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT), invented in the 1970s in the Davao region to increase fertility with crop rotations along an incline, has been done and implemented as early as 1993. This was done in order to allow boosted production without the slash-andburn methods that destroy forests for a onetime nutrient boost to the soil.

Community-based enforcement groups, such as Bantay Bukid Brigade (Forest Warden) and Bantay Katunggan (Mangrove Forest Warden) have been created to act as forest guards. They are to undertake monitoring and surveillance activities for the sake of reinforcing the sites, protecting the projects from exploitation and accidental mishaps. The act of saving is encouraged by the province itself through a Provincial Environment Week Celebration, along with providing alternative projects to partner beneficiaries in coastal and upland areas to lessen financial dependency on forest and marine resources.

There are also some projects, independent from but supported by the government who have sought to increase the harmony between human needs and production, and Negros Occidental has been embracing them. One of the most developed ways, currently, is the 132.5-megawatt (MW) solar farm in Cadiz City, opened on March 3, claimed to be the biggest in Southeast Asia. Costing 10 billion pesos and located in Barangay Timpanaan, it started connecting to the grid on T HE S P EC T R U M V O L 61 N O. 4

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NO PROGRAM, NO FUN RUN, NO POLICY WOULD REPLACE A UNIVERSAL, UNDERLYING PHILOSOPHY THAT EVERY MAN MUST THROW HIS TRASH IN THE BIN.

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February 13, supplying 30 MW on average and “performing on an 80% efficiency rating, amid stormy weather,” according to Cadiz Mayor Patrick Escalante. “Since it started operating fully for almost three weeks already, it supplies a huge part of the province’s average power demand of 200 MW.” Additional solar farms are now being put up in Bacolod City and La Carlota City, and in the municipalities of Murcia and Manapla in Negros Occidental.

There is also the biomass project in San Carlos City, supplying 18 MW in base load supply to the local power grid.

Costing 35 billion pesos, the project is located in a 20-hectare site undertaken

by San Carlos Biopower. The biomass facility will use agricultural wastes such as sugarcane trash, coconut husks and shells, wood, grass and other energy crops from dedicated plantations as feedstock.

Cogenerational plants also exist in Silay, Talisay, and Victorias City.

As for the streets, the Provincial Government institutionalized an active Provincial Solid Waste Management Board with functions to plan and implement programs of the province on solid waste management.

However, the burden of keeping the streets clean, more than anything else, lies within the citizens that populate it. They are the ones with the most contact and with the most responsibility for their generated lot.

No program, no Fun Run, no policy would replace a universal, underlying philosophy that every man must throw his trash in the bin. The accretion of waste in the streets may be no worse than the ones found in the days before entrenched sanitation policies, but the subtle sense of entitlement that each person possesses is the more worrying trash.

The forests may have been sacrificed to fuel advancement, but the simple act of cleaning up after oneself need not be cast off as an additional tax to this modernization. S

DISCUSSION

WHAT WE TALK ABOUT WHEN WE TALK ABOUT SEXUALITY Have we always tried our best to evade questions and discussions pertaining to sex on the family table? Is this where our wrong misconceptions on sexuality come from? Here’s how the topic should be approached in the home.

BY STARLENE B. PORTILLO ILLUSTRATED BY GLEN JED J. DESCUTIDO

LET’S GO DOWN the rabbit hole: a

secret passageway of childhood understanding and cartoon-infused knowledge, leading you to a land where storks fly uneasily overhead, their long beaks carrying the weight of a 7.5 pound newborn suspended by a wide polka-dotted cloth with questionable durability and laws of physics. It makes you think of how people are careless enough to kiss and get themselves pregnant.

Secretly, you hope the baby is a boy with a birdie. Ma says girls had flowers, and you think that’s just sad because flowers may wilt as fast as they bloom. As you shake your head in dismay, you see a kid about

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your age in pigtails pass by. Instinctively, you cover your nose with both hands. No one wants to get infected with the vicious playground epidemic cooties.

At one point in our childhood, we believed in the legitimacy that these sketches made and pictures painted by adults as mere excuses for answers relating to early sexuality. As we grow older and more able to take the frequent punches of reality and life, how should we tackle this ever-evaded subject?

Defined as “a central aspect of being human throughout life, that encompasses sex, gender identities and roles, sexual orientation, eroticism, pleasure, intimacy and reproduction” by the World Health Organization (WHO), sexuality is experienced and expressed in relationships, norms and mentalities. While sexuality can include all of these dimensions, not all of them are always experienced or expressed.

Sexuality is influenced by the interaction of biological and socioeconomic factors.

This should not be confused nor used interchangeably with sex, which refers to the biological characteristics that define humans as female or male, and is also a colloquial term for sexual activity.

According to kidshealth.org, children aging from 6 to 10 are especially interested in gender roles, conception, pregnancy and birth, though they do not fully understand the concepts behind it. One common parental mistake during the prepubescent stage is sugarcoating answers — a nasty habit most adults are guilty of, which transcends to further attempts at discretion in sexual discussion as children mature.

“Parents of the modern generation lived in a more conservative generation, where anything sexual was supposed to be

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AS WE GROW OLDER AND MORE ABLE TO TAKE THE FREQUENT PUNCHES OF REALITY AND LIFE, HOW SHOULD THEY TACKLE THIS EVER-EVADED SUBJECT?

addressed under the table and behind closed doors,” said former Director of the USLS Guidance and Evaluation Center (GEC) and current College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Dean Rowena V. Bañes, PhD, adding that this is one reason why they beat around the bush with responses pertaining to sex and sexuality.

“My kids grew up with the mindset that they have to think for themselves,” stated Jean Lee Patindol, multi-awarded Filipino children’s book author, Assistant Economics Professor and The Spectrum Moderator.

“But when they ask the questions, I give them the facts carefully seeing as children are very impressionable and whatever you say affects the way they think.” A mother of three, Patindol said that she has read up on child development books and learned early on that parents should just answer sexualityrelated questions directly, and at their child’s level of understanding, gradually increasing in detail and explanation.

“What’s important actually is not your answer, but the way you answer the questions. I learned that parents should be careful of their reactions lest they want their children to grow up thinking that sexualityrelated terms are malicious and more than just a matter of fact,” she added. This is supported by a statement from pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Steven Dowshen, MD, saying that welcoming questions, openly answering them without hesitation and not treating them as dirty or embarrassing subjects “will foster a healthy sense of selfacceptance” among teenagers.

“Let’s set the record straight, I’m not a lesbian. But everyone else used to think I was. And at one point, even my parents did too,” Danny*, from the College of Business and Accountancy started.

An only child, Danny is a social butterfly.

Most of her friends are girls, and she is very close to them— coined as too close for those who are reserved.

She grew up in a home where sex was considered taboo and sexuality was not a fork in the road but a straight path. “At one point, they talked to me about it. They said they were open to the possibility [of me being a lesbian]. They were feigning tolerance, but that doesn’t mask the fact that they don’t approve.”

“It hurt hearing the persons you trusted the most express their lack of faith in you, even mocking you for it. For once, I doubted myself and my orientation but then I thought, I know myself better than anyone else,” she expressed. Danny eventually sought the help of a guidance counselor in the university, who explained that it was normal for her to be attached to girls, seeing as she is an only child and her actions justify her need for sister figures.

In line with this, Patindol stated: “The challenge for every parent and adult is that you have to be ready with your attitude in addressing the situation. We adults have more baggage than our children do. Keep your emotions and reactions in check because they adapt and respond to the emotional tone you bring in.”

However, the hesitation sometimes comes directly from the part of the teens, who are too embarrassed to ask questions about their physical and emotional changes. Bañes stated that only 4 out of 10 teenagers openly talk to their parents about matter concerning sexuality. “Teens feel fear and guilt. They also doubt confiding in their parent and/or guardians with sexual matters because they might not get the answer that they want. Instead, they turn to their peers, whom they spend most of their time with and think understands them best,” she explained further.

“I guess some teenagers fail to properly approach their parents out of the fear of disappointment and rejection,” affirmed Kenneth* from the College of Arts and Sciences. By the time he was in third grade,

he realized he was gay. It took him four years to come out and tell the truth to his parents, both of which are working abroad. After coming out, Kenneth got immediate positive response from his mother, whereas his father took some time to let the change in his son sink in.

“Their reactions made me realize that if parents really loved their children, eventually they’d accept and understand. In the end, no matter how much they say they know their child, it will always be the child that knows himself better,” he added.

Furthermore, Bañes shared a story of how she handled the case of a 12-year old being traumatized after catching her parents in the act of making love, thinking that her father was physically hurting and abusing her mother. “This is why parents should also think of the propriety of their behaviors and answers,” Bañes stressed.

“No one wants their children to go out into the world unfit and unarmed. Therefore, sex education must start at home, where it should anchor familial values.”

In line with this, Patindol stated “I think sex should first be learned at home.

For teenagers to have a healthy outlook about sex, the parents should have a healthy attitude about sex as well. Although it is alright to learn about it in school, by the time children are studying, they are already formed. No matter how true the teachings of a teacher are if the home has a dysfunctional outlook with sex and sexuality, it still wouldn’t work.”

Now, it’s time to crawl out of the rabbit hole and surface back to reality—where four newborns are being pulled out of their mothers’ vaginal hole in the Philippines every minute, as a result of the successful union of the sperm and the egg. Where people kissing only gets them reprimanded for public displays of affection. A place where girls have vaginas and boys have penises. A place that is free of cooties. A place that does not do well with spoonfuls of sugar to help the medicine of truth go down. S

“NO ONE WANTS THEIR CHILDREN TO GO OUT INTO THE WORLD UNFIT AND UNARMED. THEREFORE, SEX EDUCATION MUST START AT HOME, WHERE IT SHOULD ANCHOR FAMILIAL VALUES.”

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DISCUSSION

FAKING IT

Beauty evolves along with human beings. Discover how attractiveness is now achieved through feigning quirks and other natural flaws.

BY DAPHNE TANYA L. MOLENAAR ILLUSTRATED BY JOWAN DAVE G. GUIDES

PERFECTION was the standard of beauty.

Nostrils that have the symmetry of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, skin that has never been touched by acne, and teeth that might as well be encased in shells: these are just a few of the things that most people wished for. That people thought were beautiful and nothing less.

Then again, perfection was the standard of beauty paired with faultlessness–in the sense of proportion – and has always been known as impossible without obvious expensive work done. Now the trend is taking a 360-degree turn. The world wants more of the unkempt, imperfect features but the only difference is, people are taking even more effort for these so-called “natural” features.

When the 1970s brought the nipple bra, it seemed to solve the issue of looking cold and perky while still wearing a bra. It is literally a brassiere with its own built-in erect nipples on the outside which will show through thin fabrics. Because who doesn’t want to have the “sensual no-bra-look” with an extra oomph and support, right? The point (pun intended) was to make it look natural when in fact, it isn’t at all. Obviously, the existence of four nipples on one chest didn’t appeal to the public as expected, thus, causing the trend to fail impeccably.

After more than four decades, nothing really replaced the absurdity of the bra, but the trends are familiar. Freckles and moles are actually wanted. Some are even drawn.

Make-up artists themselves are guilty, for “freckles instantly make the complexion look fresh, as if you have no foundation on,” explained Stila’s Global Executive Director

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WE HAVE ALL THESE PHASES INVOLVING THE CONCEPT OF BEAUTY, OF WHAT MAKES SOME THINGS BEAUTIFUL, AND THE OBJECTIVITY HAS NEVER BEEN MORE INCONSISTENT.

of Creative Artistry, Sarah Lucero. So, slather on the flesh toned paint as thick as possible because as long as there’s a sprinkle of fake freckles, no one will question your birth into blemish-free skin. Basically: Make it look like there’s no make up by putting even more of it.

Hence, the No-Makeup Makeup actually became a thing. Given the name, it is the art of putting makeup on without said makeup being obvious–it doesn’t have to make sense; it sold. Beauty enthusiasts would try out the No-Makeup Makeup, add a few to plenty of dots with a brown (It is a lot more natural-looking than black) pencil and ultimately no one would even realize the effort it took to look that way, not to mention the fact that moles and freckles are known to stay in the same place every day.

Some beauty articles also gave us before-bedtime tips for the “I Woke Up Like This” look pegged by Beyoncé in her song Flawless and even include make up we could sleep in. Aside from moisturizing for hydrated skin, braiding wet hair for beach waves, and lathering castor oil on eyelashes for thicker hair growth, there are lists and lists of products whose aim is to have their users wake up prettier than when they went to bed the night before.

This isn’t a matter of hygiene and grooming anymore; there’s more to it. This is a science of what comes and goes, and how to make the most of it while it’s still in style. So far, the fads keep looking for new favorite “flaws” and it just keeps adding and adding.

Let’s move to something that’s a little more permanent than makeup.

Gap teeth, as they call it, is the space between two teeth and is now gracing magazine covers and advertisements. The beauty industry is printing out one of the most common cosmetic dental issues on piles and piles of paper when not too long ago, people were spending so much to get rid of it. Up until now, they still are, while a few are even trying to separate them. There were those who tried to get rid of it – and the rest wanted to get it at the same time. A few people are gaping their teeth on purpose, and no, it’s not passion gap; that’s something else entirely.

Even a few celebrities like Lily Aldridge, Georgia May Jagger, Anna Paquin, Becky G, and Lauren Hutton prefer their gap-toothed smiles.

They could easily change their teeth but they didn’t. “[Gap teeth is] becoming quite fashionable now, isn’t it? Forty-five years later,” Hutton remarked in Harper’s Bazaar.

Bushy eyebrows, thick lips, flyaway hair, thick thighs, and all the

things ladies should be owning in the first place are now thankfully being beautified because what else could look more natural than, well, natural things? People have tried to get rid of them, but a few fashion eras later they are going to lengths to get them.

It’s ironic to fake something that isn’t. We have all these phases involving the concept of beauty, of what makes some things beautiful and the objectivity has never been more inconsistent. Actually, we shouldn’t even be surprised. These so-called flaws and reluctance to groom until our hair is as shiny as a freshly waxed car make sense because they add a certain character.

It screams confidence but not directly at another person’s face; it is much subtler, like the dusting of blush the experts keep recommending. If someone looks like they are hiding less, it also shows how comfortable they are in their own skin and that is already proven attractive to most, if not all.

Nobody believes in complete and utter perfection anymore, so anything off or different can actually become charming and less has never been so much more as it is right now. But in a few years, or even months, that could change too. A decade could possibly make this article irrelevant unless used for history material.

Although, there is one trend that won’t be gone for a long, long time. As human beings with eyes, taste and centuries, no, millennia of face smearing, rituals for mating, body coverings, and elaborate designing, we will always put effort, in varying degrees, into how we look. S

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DISCUSSION

PORN ON DEMAND

Here’s a look into the effects and psychological roots of how the content that has plagued teenagers and adults alike lures them into addiction.

BY ROBERT H. JERGE III ILLUSTRATED BY SHARA MAE L. PELAYO

YOUR BRAIN IS A COMPUTER—

a product of 2.4 million years of evolution, constantly evolving for the betterment of your species.

It knows what’s good for you, rewarding you for the tasks you’ve done to promote life and urging you to avoid anything that could bring harm to your body. Your brain’s reward system gives off the hormone dopamine to thank you for completing a task you’ve worked hard for and endorphin when doing strenuous physical activities, but humans, curious as they are, have discovered ways, i.e., drugs, to bypass the hard work required to trigger the hormones to be released. Pornography, like drugs, bypasses the hard work of finding a sexual partner to have intimate physical contact with, and replaces them with both erotic photos and sensual videos.

Porn redirects sexual pleasure from the bedroom to the computer screen by unconsciously training the mind to be aroused by erotic visual stimuli and self-touch in anticipation for sex. This is akin to how Pavlov trained his dog to drool to the sound of a bell, simulating the dog’s salivary glands in anticipation for food. This diverted pleasure has increased the frequency of erectile dysfunction,

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BY FINDING A NEW AND EASIER WAY TO RELEASE DOPAMINE, YOUR BRAIN REWIRES ITSELF TO SEEK OUT WHAT CAUSED THE RELEASE, FORCING THE BODY TO ACT ACCORDINGLY. and pre- and delayed ejaculation cases, says Dr. Tyger Latham, a clinical psychologist who counsels couples regarding sexual problems.

The effects of porn are not limited to the male population; some studies have shown that women are also affected.

According to a study conducted by Dr. Kevin B. Skinner on 1,062 women respondents, 75 percent experienced intense feelings of fear at least half of the time after discovering their partner’s sexual behavior, while 80 percent felt anxious at least half of the time or more they when they see sexually suggestive images.

By finding a new and easier way to release dopamine, your brain rewires itself to seek out what caused the release, forcing the body to act accordingly. The release can be caused by watching porn, which entices your brain to seek out more, leading to porn dependency and psychosomatic impotence.

Psychosomatic impotence, or erectile dysfunction, was originally misdiagnosed as a physical-based disease, but new research has shown that it has more psychological roots.

The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge studied the brain activity of nineteen males with compulsive sexual behavior and uncontrollable erotic thoughts, and have found that pornography fires off brain receptors that mirror those in drug addicts. Addiction to porn works the same way as addiction to drugs would; it begins with early exposure. First-time porn viewers are around the age of 14, which is not an uncommon occurrence because, teens become more curious about sex around this age. As these teens become more accustomed to the adult material, they become physically dependent on porn and grow an uncontrollable attraction to it by using computers, smartphones, and magazines to find some quick pleasure. After becoming accustomed to the porn’s effects, they become desensitized to it, leaving them to find ways to escalate their need for it, forcing them to view pornographic material in secret and more often. This then leads to

degraded time management and risky sexual behavior, moving the sexual acts from the Internet to reality, e.g., buying prostitutes and resorting to cyberporn through e-mails, chartrooms, social media and the like.

For something as disputed as pornography, it would be kind of hard to imagine it having any positive effects, but there are actually quite a few. One fairly common effect is its ability to help reduce stress. Dopamine, known as the ‘happy hormone’, is released when exposed to pornography, this helps with depression, anxiety, and low motivation. Anti-anxiety medications require a trip to the doctor, and

we all know that isn’t cheap. Porn is free, and is easy to access if you have a steady Internet connection. Porn can also help you discover your sexuality. By exposing you to the different kinks available, you may find your ‘sexual-self’ a lot easier with pornography.

Everything is healthy when taken in moderation, pornography is no exception.

Too much can have adverse effects on your body, leading to potential erectile and desensitization to sex, but viewing it could help relieve anxiety and stress. It may not be the most socially acceptable content to view, but pornography should only be taken with a grain of salt. S T HE S P EC T R U M V O L 61 N O. 4

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DISCUSSION

THE SKIRT CHASER ACCOUNT There’s a different kind of predator on the loose. They prey on the unsuspecting members of the society.

Enter their jungle, if you dare.

BY HEZRON G. PIOS ILLUSTRATED BY KEANU JOSEPH P. RAFIL

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A HASTENING FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENT—her mind jammed with school deadlines—crosses path with a charming debonair on her way to the university. She unwittingly tripped onto him and the hefty pile of books she was carrying, including her leather handbag, fell against the concrete. The two exchanged apologies and unintentionally stared into each other’s eyes. A moment passed, the girl regained her senses, collected her stuff, and hurriedly walked away from embarrassment.

But the young man remained unmoving; he forgot to ask her name. Without thinking twice, he sprinted towards the girl: his next potential victim.

Men are colloquially labeled as innate hunters. Some seek quality education, professional or money-making careers and healthy personal relationships while others pursue ladies for the purpose of pleasure.

These men seek for limited enjoyment brought forth by probable pleasers and compliant preys. They’re tagged as skirt chasers: men who trail all types of women regardless of being stamped with derogatory remarks by society. Falling into temptation that the female body lures them into, they’re men who, with or without them knowing, are called womanizers.

“Womanizing may be described as a psychological incapacity and infidelity. But to be completely honest, womanizing is just a term to degrade men who love being with women too much,” says Nicholas*, a graduate of the University of St. La Salle and currently studying in a medical school in Luzon.

Nicholas confessed, “At a certain social level, I was [a womanizer] once. I love women and I love making them feel appreciated and loved. I was seeing different ladies but it feels downgrading to be branded as a womanizer, although my actions speak such.”

He grew up in a family dominated by

women and has two sisters, stating that he has nothing but respect and love for women.

For him, there were just too many women to love at the time, and an infinite amount of temptation.

When asked what influenced him to venture on womanizing, Nicholas claimed that it was the media. It instilled into his mind that men must maintain a standard and quality of machismo. He further added that the habit started during his transition from being a hormonal teenage dirtbag to a fullyfunctioning adult.

Dr. Ramon C. M.F. Lachica, Dean of Psychology in the university, affirmed that there are a number of factors that influence womanizing activities particularly predominant in older males.

The factors could be the age, the declining sexual capacity of the male, the different development stages, the problems with erection, the refraction period of orgasm, or the personality deficiency.

Also, a personal need arises whenever the current spouse is no longer fulfilling to the male, thus he will find means of looking for an alternative: hooking up with another woman.

On the other hand, Dr. Lachica shared his insights on adolescent males who engage in the aforesaid activity: “Libido, or sexual urges, is highest during adolescence. But what is their motive? Why do they have multiple relationships? Is it a physical need, an identity issue? It’s because they want to experiment.”

He emphasized that the barkada plays a significant role in influencing the habits and lifestyles of an adolescent. An accepted culture within a group can also be highly overwhelming for those whose adaptability cannot sync in fast, hence forcing them to do what might be against their will just to be included in the group.

On a different note, the victim of

womanizing could not only experience internal conflict, but external conflict as well, e.g. one’s own family. “For me, love is a sacred and painful risk to take, which should be taken seriously,” says Kristina*, a 2nd year AB Political Science student. Kristina herself was victimized by a womanizer named Daniel*. She added that by the first time she knew Daniel was having affairs with several girls, she cut off the relationship. But then again, they both missed one another’s company, thus driving Daniel to promise

knows that womanizing is an act of cheating in the context of romantic relationships. He narrated that love should be grounded with trust and respect, and that a real man would never do anything to hurt the woman he loves. He said he sees himself in a committed relationship five to ten years from now. “To the womanizers, grow up. To the victims, move on. Don’t let yourself settle in such a stressful situation,” Nicholas said.

Everyone tries to find his place under the sun. And as what Dr. Lachica had said, “There is always a need to know yourself because when you know yourself, there’s what you call the fidelity to yourself—that loyalty to oneself,” and that those who keep on jumping from one partner to the next do not completely know themselves—those are the persons who are undecided in terms of their preferences.

Womanizing is not a race wherein men must collect women as if they were golden trophies. One should not just laugh it off as if it’s like a passing comic relief.

There will be another skirt chaser on the loose. The danger, however, doesn’t exclusively come upon women, but upon men as well. In this age, anyone can offend anyone regardless of gender labels. As of this moment, whether you’re an offender or not, nobody has the excuse to mistreat the other solely for his or her selfish reasons.

On her way home, the same female college student—her mind brimming with thoughts of the endearing guy who asked her name earlier in the morning—entered a 24/7 convenience store. There she recognized the familiar face, the same man, talking to another girl in a corner. She was in shock, but she recovered herself quickly. She hurriedly exited towards the door. But the guy noticed her; he saw his potential victim leaving—or perhaps it was his one true love slipping away. For now, he will never know. S

AS OF THIS MOMENT, WHETHER YOU’RE AN OFFENDER OR NOT, NOBODY HAS THE EXCUSE TO MISTREAT THE OTHER SOLELY FOR HIS OR HER SELFISH REASONS.

not to womanize again, prompting Kristina to accept him back. They both stayed in that situation for a while. Kristina admitted she and Daniel broke up countless times, and that she had a hard time dealing with that problem.

Kristina expressed that she cannot remember how frequent it was that Daniel shifted from one girl to another, a number her fingers can’t count. All her family and friends disagreed with her personal decisions and level of understanding. “I realized that I needed to move on. I deserved someone better. I deserved nothing but the best. I was raised well and not to be anyone’s second choice.”

Although hormones and temptations led Nicholas*, the former womanizer, in believing the illusion that manliness requires more than a single partner, he now

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HOW TO TALK ABOUT YOUR BELIEFS Professing your beliefs is a risky and complicated task to do nowadays.

Here is a definitive guide on how to do it and make others realize that you are right.

BY DAPHNE TANYA L. MOLENAAR ILLUSTRATED BY SETH V. PULLONA

Decide first on your entire belief system and stick to it. This is the most important part for you can only do this once in your inconstant and unstable life. The “no erasures” tests your professors are so fond of (can we talk about that too?) also applies to life, itself. No matter how much sense the other person is making, do not acknowledge it. You are infallible.

Cry out loud if you have to. It doesn’t matter if their faces are literally inches away from yours, there is still a possibility that they can’t hear you. Maybe a few drops of spit can radically help emphasize how right you are.

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There are countless philosophies, ideologies, principles, ethics, and even an estimated number of 4,300 religions, but those are all unnecessary numbers. They are all lost. Save them, each and every one of them. If they don’t want you to and if they keep asking you not to, that only means the more you actually have to.

When you are losing an argument (it happens, some people just don’t get it), start quoting verse numbers and you don’t even have to explain them anymore. Not mentioning the fact that they don’t know the books by heart like you do, everyone is also scared of numbers. It’s a validated fact, so “41:32-36” them all and add a little of “17:38” too, while you’re at it.

Know that to be pro-life is to believe that the murderers should have capital punishment to compensate the lives they took away. Life is never theirs to take and we have to stop them before they take even more.

Lives of many, always.

Always remember that there are only good and bad gods. There is no in between. What do you mean you don’t believe in any? Are you going through a phase?

“Your reasoning is just plain wrong” is an example of a very strong opening for an argument. Use it and ditch the tedious explaining and researching from reliable sources that are deemed important. Deemed isn’t synonymous to is. And ignore the fact that you didn’t reason out yourself, either.

To emphasize on this even more: you are in no way entitled to explain why and how you came to your belief system so be sure to use strong verbs like “I know” and “I’m sure” because you do and you are.

Right? Right.

Stock up on your education about other people’s mistakes. This way, you can easily prove how their opinions have even lesser value.

There is a correlation between people’s mess ups and their way of thinking, it’s common knowledge.

Stay away from the poison.

Remember, you’re talking about your beliefs. Don’t let someone actually react (gasp) to what you are saying.

How dare they feel, right?

For things unexplainable beyond reason, there’s a card you could pull out: It’s the government’s fault. It’s overused for a reason; it only works every time.

Above and most of all, do not listen. That would just go against the entire point of being painfully correct. S

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Film picks from various eras and genres—ranging from five-star blockbusters to cinema flops.

Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Paper Moon (1973)

DIRECTOR PETER BOGDANOVICH PARAMOUNT PICTURES Paper Moon is a black-and-white comedy drama adaptation of the book Addie Pray (1971) by Joe David Brown. The title was derived from its soundtrack It’s Only a Paper Moon, which was also the foundation of an iconic scene in the movie (as shown on the official movie poster as well) wherein the main characters pose in a dignified manner for a photograph on a cardboard moon.

Set in 1930s Kansas, the movie focuses on con man Moses Pray (Ryan O’Neal) who poses as a man selling deluxe edition Bibles to widows which their husbands supposedly bought before dying. He meets nine-year old Addie Loggins (Tatum O’Neal) during her mother’s funeral, obliged to bring the newlyorphaned girl to her aunt in St. Joseph, Missouri. They formed an unlikely bond along the way as they plotted schemes and swindled together.

It was through Laszlo Kovac’s deep-focus cinematography, Alvin Sargent’s witty screenplay and director Peter Bogdanovich’s love for old films that enabled the movie to capture the real essence of a 1930s depression-stricken rural state. Paper Moon took a stroll down the road less traveled, as movies about conning typically revolve around slapstick humor and sleights of hand. This, instead, delves deeper and provides a melodramatic touch to a film set during an era shrouded in despair.

It paints a moving picture depicting people living morosely and not having much of a choice, all the while injecting humor that is

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not only confined to be understood by a specific generation.

With the movie showcasing widerange landscapes of 1930s Kansas, close to authentic costume designs and words that mix entertainment with empathy, Paper Moon is a rare gem that delights and makes viewers sociallyconscious.

— STARLENE JOY B. PORTILLO

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

DIRECTORS TERRY GILLIAM AND TERRY JONES EMI FILMS “Come back here…I’ll bite your legs off!”

A satirical retelling of the King Arthur legend, Monty Python remains one of the all-time best comedy films. The Monty Python group consisting of Graham Chapman¸ John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin remain British comedic legends with the name not even meaning anything.

The film focuses on King

DIRECTOR JIM SHARMAN 20TH CENTURY FOX “I’m just a sweet transvestite from transsexual Transylvania.”

While driving at midnight with your fiancée, one of your tires blows out and a storm forebodingly ensues. Would you rather stay and brave the weather till morning, or would you check out that eerie castle you saw a few miles back, hoping they might have a telephone you could use?

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, directed

by Jim Sharman, reveals the daring result of choosing option number two. It relays

the indelible experiences of Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) as they gamble a night within the castle of Dr. Frank N. Furtur (Tim Curry), a libidinous transvestite scientist with a bizarre obsession.

The film is a relic of 1970s theatre enchantment. The soundtrack/the sang dialogue, is either astoundingly catchy or empowering— or even both.

Contrary to pitch-battling musicals, you won’t help but delightfully sing along to the groovy, old-school funk and rock and roll. The humor value, which may seem-outdated, provides ample comical relief, as complimented by its rainbow cast. The on-point singing and dancing hunchback, the lascivious Frankenstein-like macho man, the curious virgin, the lovelorn groupie, along with the rest of the crew, all have their ingeniously charming tales to tell.

It’s a musical-comedy that also offers small slices of subjective romance, remote adventure, and a sprinkle of unlikely horror. This film is recommended for those who want to have a fresh, nostalgic, and ultimately time-warping picture show experience.

— CHAD MARTIN Z. NATIVIDAD

Arthur’s journey with the killer rabbit (who could ever forget about the killer rabbit?), the three-headed knight, the Black Beast of Aarrgghh and many more.

Not having enough budget for the film, they actually decided to play with the film by riding fake horses making galloping noises with coconut shells. The gags remain timeless and even if you watch it for the nth time, you’d still crack up every time.

Another fun fact is that during the premiere of Monty Python and the Holy Grail at the Cannes Film Festival, someone had called in a

bomb threat just after the opening credits were played. Some of the audience believed that it was a stint and part of the movie.

No wonder cult classic watchers and Dungeons and Dragons fans all throughout the world obsess over this film. Ni! Ni! Ni! — MARIA ANGELICA M. APE

Song of the Sea (2014)

DIRECTOR TOMM MOORE STUDIOCANAL 2D animated movies with gorgeous hand drawn, painterly looks have been rare in the past years as we see computergenerated movies dominate the big screen. That’s why seeing Song of the Sea successfully pull off a beautiful, emotional story in a watercolor on paper texture visual feels refreshing and unique and with the help of the enchanting music, it doesn’t want you to look away.

This is Director Tomm Moore’s second collaboration with Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon (first was The Secret of Kells). It tells the story of Ben (voiced by David Rawle), an Irish boy who lives with his little sister Saorsie (pronounced as ‘Seer-sha’) and their father Conor(Brendan Gleeson). Unfortunately, their mother Bronagh(Lisa Hannigan) passed away at the night Saorsie was born. They found out that like her mother, Saorsie is a selkie (a seal that transforms to human on land, based on an Irish folklore).

At age six, Saorsie still isn’t

Reservoir Dogs (1992)

DIRECTOR QUENTIN TARANTINO MIRAMAX FILMS Reservoir Dogs revolves around a cluster of six men having colorrelated aliases.

Upon knowing that one of them was later killed after the heist and presuming that a rat—or an undercover cop—has infiltrated the circle, the movie then spirals down into a bloody and tense whodunit, further propelling the witty and offensive writing Tarantino is known for on full tilt; all this madness balanced with the backdrop of carefully handpicked tunes from the 50s to the 70s.

Quentin Tarantino then exercises his unyielding knack for nonlinear storytelling through the use of multiple flashbacks. Through this inter-cutting of past to present, it recounts the scheming and plotting done by the crooks before making contact and tying strings with the aforesaid mob boss. One flashback disclosed a hint so as to let the viewer cross out an unanswered riddle. It leaves them wondering what kind of plot twist awaits them.

Nonetheless, Tarantino sewed one and two together in order to give each of the [mob men] characters a significant existence though their witty and not-so intelligent actions; mostly emphasized through dialogue and some dialogue comedy.

One of the mob men would turn out to be an ill-tempered killing-machine as, out of the blue, a fool-hardy fistfight and a

shoot-to-kill scenario ensues. Other men are plagued with contradictions: a foul-mouthed man incessantly throwing insults to the others doesn’t end up getting terminated; another man seems, at the surface, tough and invincible—an Alpha mob man—but he can’t dodge one pitiful gunshot from a visibly inferior cop.

But this movie is encompassing: it’s gory, thrilling, slightly-funny, and mind-perplexing. The characters represent those persons who engage themselves in prevalent criminality, excessive drug use, and multi-killings.

They’re totally aware of its consequences but apparently, there’s no stopping hired criminals in getting their dirty jobs done.

— HEZRON G. PIOS

able to speak for the reason I would leave for you to watch.

Grief with the loss of a loved one is a big theme of this movie and it emphasizes that to overcome this stage, one must not bottle up the negative emotions that come with it, but rather acknowledge that they are part of the healing process.

Song of the Sea is a breath of fresh air in the ocean of computer-generated animated movies and one that will bring audience, young and old to a visually stunning and heartwarming experience.

Every frame is a painting. Every scene screams beauty. If you’re looking for the marriage of fantastic and unique animation with an engaging story, no need to dive sea-deep.

— JOWAN DAVE G. GUIDES

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

DIRECTOR GORAN DUKIĆ AUTONOMOUS FILMS There’s always been something about the thought of afterlife that captures people, and this film gives them one quirky piece of hell. Or purgatory. Or whatever.

The movie starts out quite dark, with main character Zia (Patrick Fugit) cleaning his space and ends his life successfully by what the title suggests. It then continues with him living a normal day out (which will confuse you for a minute if

you haven’t read the synopsis) until he explains that he has come to an afterlife for suicide victims. From then on, the film takes on a grayish sort of tint with bright fluorescent lights and the setting becomes like that of a low-budget Indie Film.

In this underworld, color is rare, everything is clanky, signs are handwritten and nobody smiles – just the same as the living world but a little worse.

And you would think that from hereon after, it’s all going to be bleak but this is where the film actually becomes... uplifting. One by one, weirdly delightful characters add to the story. With a Russian rockstar bestfriend and a weird beautiful chick seeking for the persons-in-charge to accompany the protagonist, Zia starts a journey that leads him to finding more than

his ex-girlfriend. There are conflicts, headscratching storylines added unexpectedly, and a little bit of fantasy, but in the end it doesn’t matter.

Who’d expect that a road trip through hell is where one finds miracles, love and even–life? No wonder this movie got a cult following before disappearing to Indie Film limbo.

— ANDREA NICOLE C. FAROL

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Deadpool (2016)

Mommy (2014)

DIRECTOR XAVIER DOLAN LES FILMS SÉVILLE Xavier Dolan is no stranger when it comes to tackling difficult mother-son relationships. In fact, his first semiautobiographical feature film made when he was 19-years old, of which he also starred in, had a tongue-incheek title: I Killed My Mother (2009). That film catapulted him into enfant terrible-status of Canadian cinema.

With Mommy, already his fifth feature film at 25, he gages old thematic and stylistic tropes of which he is known for, but spins it further into arguably more mature territory.

Filmed at a 1:1 aspect ratio, Mommy’s form mirrors the spare and suffocating storyline, as well as the deeply-entrenched lives, of the problematic main characters. The widower Die (Anne Dorval) was granted custody of his 15-year old son, Steve (Antonine-Olivier Pilon), after breaking

Gods of Egypt (2016)

hell into a juvenile detention center. The brittle tension between them is caused by Steve’s sudden violent fits, of which involves numerous expletives, temper tantrums and hapless destruction, being a victim of ADHD. Domestic life is not only difficult but violent for Die, a contractualtranslator jumping in between jobs, now tasked to homeschool her son.

This slow and painful dance of being at odds with an unstable child is challenged when a third character steps in the form of a stuttering teacher on sabbatical, Kyle (Suzanne Clement). She comes as a beacon of hope just across their home.

In moments of clarity and freedom involving the three characters, the 1:1 aspect ratio is stretched out.

This makes for a cheap but effective metaphor,

DIRECTOR ALEX PROYAS SUMMIT ENTERTAINMENT Streaming next in the list of unremarkable box office feats, Gods of Egypt goes about in the mainstream scene as another unsatisfying fantasy film that is supposedly intended to be the start of a franchise. It features the typical narcissistic Egyptian deities and conflicted human protagonists who inevitably journey together in the alternative reality of

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paired with cheesy and anthemic Top 40 tracks (OneRepublic’s Counting Star, Oasis’ Wonderwall) to make the viewers complicit in their brief triumphs.

Mommy, with its kitsch, heavilyaestheticized look and dark humor, is essentially a dismal film. Watch with caution and preferably not side-by-side with your own mother.

— RJ NICHOLE L. LEDESMA

mythological ancient Egypt and finally discover harmony in their extraordinary coexistence.

The plotline could easily be summarized into one word: cliché. And that’s because it naturally is and should be—the whole story is simply a compilation of ancient Egyptian myths, those that have built the foundation of ancient Egyptian culture for centuries. What this film mainly failed in was its premature attempt at

DIRECTOR TIM MILLER 20TH CENTURY FOX The fourth wall-breaking and dirty humored anti-hero finally hits the big screen. The movie’s teaser trailer came out back in August of last year, setting the release date to February 12, 2016, two days before Valentine’s Day, which paved way for much of the movie’s hype on social media platforms. But this humorous comic book character has had some pretty bad representations before his first real hit.

Deadpool first showed up in theaters with a minor appearance as a character called Weapon XI, the mutant killer in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In that movie, he was the “Frankenstein’s monster” of William Striker. Striker’s Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds, didn’t sport the signature red and black jumpsuit, dual-wielded swords, or his better known attribute: dialogue humor. It wasn’t until seven years later that the comic book-based Deadpool, also portrayed by the same actor, was produced, wielding all his uncanny and distinctive characteristics comic book readers have always known.

The movie covers Wade Wilson’s story and the farce battle between him and a… surprise,

bringing out an exciting plot from the bare storyline, as there were obvious boundaries the director and screenwriters ought not to cross when they used Egyptian mythology as basis (e.g., being irresponsibly unfaithful to the original version of the stories). So to compensate, they made an attempt to do so in the final movie by giving ancient Egyptian characters a generous amount of modern-age humor through dialogue comedy. The

surprise! A mad scientist with a totally awkward villain name; well, what’s new with comic book plots?

Although, film and screenwriting-wise, Deadpool is not the kind of superhero movie you’d want to take your children out to watch. Deadpool’s humor leans towards young adult audiences, containing endless amounts of vulgar language and several sensual moments.

The movie starts with chuckles and ends in boisterous laughter with some thigh slapping, filled to the brim with all the explosions and adrenaline-pumping combat of an action movie, and all the gore of Mortal Kombat and Final Destination.

— ROBERT H. JERGE III

strategy, however, failed (unsurprisingly), and could’ve only gotten out a half-hearted cough from a hopeful viewer.

If you can’t handle directionless humor and forced melodrama, you might just roll your eyes (or worse, shiver) at the over-the-top dramatic sound effects that only seem to try to evoke some feeling or emotion out of you. But hey, whether we try to rationalize our dislike for pompous melodramatic efforts, it’s

still a fantasy film that aims to get viewers to ride on that magical carpet into the boundless realms of human imagination.

Gods of Egypt would either be good for feeding your curiosity for adventure, educating yourself with a dose of Egyptian mythology, learning some noble morals of life, or for simply wasting your time — the final say depends on you.

— KATHERINE E. CO

ART BY JOWAN DAVE G. GUIDES

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